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DISCOURSES       (^ 


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AT    THE 


INAUGUEATION 


REV.  JAMES  ¥.  ALEXANDER,  D.D. 


AS    rHOFESSOR    OF    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTOllY    AND    CHURCH 

GOVERNMENT   IN    THE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 

AT    PRINCETON. 


DELIVERED  AT  PRINCETON,  NOVEMBER  20.  1849. 


BRFOUE    THE    DIRECTORS    OF    THE    SKMINARY 


PUBLISHED      BY      REQUEST     OK     THE     BOARD     OF      DIRECTORS 


NEW-YORK  r 

ROBERT  CARTER  &  BROTHERS,  285  BROADWAY. 

1850. 


•>.rv  of  Fn 


DISCOUESES   M:^J^^^ 


AT    THE 


INAUGUEATION 


OF   THE 


REV.  JAMES  ¥.  ALEXANDER,  D.D., 


AS   PROFESSOR    OF    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY    AND    CHURCH 

GOVERNMENT   IN   THE   THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 

AT   FRINCETON. 


DELIVERED  AT  PRINCETON,  NOVEMBER  20,  1849, 


BEFORE   THE   DIRECTORS   OF   THE   SEMINARY. 


I. 

THE    SERMON; 

BY   THE    REVEREND   AVILLLIBI   S.   PLUMER,   D.  D.,   OF   BALTIMORE. 

H. 

THE     CHARGE; 

BY   THE   REV.   \VILLIAM  W.   PHILLIPS,  D.  D.,  OF   NEW-YORK. 
HI. 

THE    INAUGURAL   DISCOURSE. 


PUBLISHED     BY     REQUEST     OF    THE     BOARD    OF     DIRECTORS, 


NEW- YORK : 
ROBERT  CARTER  &  BROTHERS,  285  BROADWAY. 

1850. 


JOHN  F.  TROW,  PRINTER, 
49  and  51  Ann-street. 


€^i  (Effititnti!  nf  tjjt  (Cburrlj. 
A  SERMON 

DELIVERED   AT   THE   INAUGURATION   OF 

JAMES    W.    ALEXANDER,    D.  D., 


AS  PROFESSOR    OF    ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY    AND    CHLTICH 

GOVERNMENT   IN   THE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 

AT   PRINCETON, 


NOVEMBER   20,   1849. 


BY  THE 

REY.  WM.  S.  PLUMER,  D.  D., 

PASTOR   OF   THE   FRANKLIN-ST.    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   BALTIMORE. 


SEEMON. 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS. 

So:me  may  regard  the  present  as  a  fit  occasion  for 
sketcMng,  or  reviewing  the  history  of  the  institution, 
whose  interests  have  called  ns  together.  Such  forget 
that  several  persons,  whose  names  are  inseparably 
connected  with  its  rise  and  growth,  are  still  living, 
and  that  many  important  events,  deeply  affecting  its 
character,  are  so  recent  and  so  well  known,  that  an 
account  of  them  would  hardly  awaken  interest,  or 
might  wound  the  modesty  of  those  who  love  to  do 
good  in  secret.  He  who  shall  preach  the  sermon  be- 
fore the  Board  in  the  year  1912,  when  a  century 
shall  have  rolled  by,  or  even  in  the  year  1862, 
when  half  a  century  shall  have  passed  away  after  its 
founding,  will  probably  find  these  difficulties  very 
much  removed.  Such  a  discourse  at  the  right  time 
will  be  fall  of  interest.  The  materials  are  constantly 
accumulating  in  the  records  of  the  institution,  in  the 
labours  of  it  professors,  and  in  the  character  of  its 


SERMON. 


alumni.  "Tlie  heraldry  of  colleges  is  their  sons." 
Already  some  burning  and  shining  lights  have  gone 
forth  from  this  school,  and  been  consumed  by  the  in- 
tensity of  their  own  heat.  The  number  of  such  is 
constantly  increasing.  Besides,  very  marvellous  have 
been  God's  dealings  with  this  seminary.  Every  year 
is  marked  with  new  displays  of  kindness  to  it.  It 
has  been  emphatically  the  child  of  Providence.  Let 
us  record  God's  goodness,  that  generations,  which 
come  after  us,  may  praise  the  Lord. 

The  particular  professorship,  whose  incumbent  is 
this  day  to  be  inducted  into  office,  would  suggest  a 
discourse  respecting  the  department  of  instruction, 
which  he  is  to  fill.  But  without  predicting  the  exer- 
cises of  this  evening,  it  may  be  presumed  that  the  in- 
augural address  will  sufficiently  treat  of  church  his- 
tory, the  right  use  of  it,  and  the  best  methods  of  stu- 
dying it. 

Moreover,  every  professorship  in  our  seminary  has 
vast  general  bearings  on  the  state  of  the  church  at 
large.  It  sends  forth  a  thousand  influences  through 
the  pulpit  and  the  press.  By  precept,  by  example,  by 
hints  and  suggestions,  no  less  than  by  set  instructions, 
it  shapes  the  destinies  and  moulds  the  characters  of 
thousands.  Any  subject,  therefore,  relating  to  the 
church,  the  ministry,  the  spread  of  the  Gospel,  or  the 
means  of  doing  good  to  the  souls  of  men,  cannot  be 
altogether  inappropriate  to  the  business,  which  has 
caUed  us  together.     The  text  is  found  in 


SERMON.  7 

Acts   xii.  21. 
BUT   THE   WOED    OF   GOD    GEEW   AND   ]VnjLTIPLIED. 

The  subject  plainly  brouglit  to  view  in  these  words 
is  the  Efficiency  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  text 
relates  to  a  period  ten  or  eleven  years  after  the  ascen- 
sion of  our  Saviour.  It  is  but  one  of  many  passages 
in  the  same  book,  recording  in  few  words  the  wonder- 
ful progress  of  truth.  Elsewhere  we  read :  "  The 
same  day  there  were  added  unto  them  about  three 
thousand  souls ;"  "  And  the  Lord  added  daily  to  the 
church  such  as  should  be  saved."  Acts  ii.  41,  47. 
"  Many  of  them,  which  heard  the  word,  believed,  and 
the  number  of  the  men  was  about  "^ve  thousand." 
Acts  iv.  4.  These  are  a  few  specimens  of  the  inspired 
record  concerning  the  Christian  Church,  the  first  few 
years  of  its  existence.  The  chief  instruments  of  this 
success  were  the  apostles,  the  seventy,  and  their  con- 
verts. Under  the  guidance  and  blessing  of  God  these 
men  laboured  so  efficiently  that  twenty-eight  years 
after  Christ's  ascension  the  Jewish  converts  were 
spoken  of  as  "many  myriads."  Acts  xxi.  20.  Our 
translators  render  the  word,  "  thousands ;"  but  the 
original  is  not  as  in  Acts  ii.  41,  and  iv.  4,  ^cXcdSsg^ 
but  juvQidSsQ^  myriads,  which  word,  used  definitely, 
means  ten  thousands,  but  is  often  taken  for  a  great 
and  countless  throng.  In  Hebrews  xii.  22,  it  is  ren- 
dered "innumerable,"  "an  innumerable  company  of 
angels."     It  often  has  this  sense. 


8  S  E  E  M  0  N  . 

The  same  year  Paiil,  wiiting  to  the  Eomans,  ap- 
plies to  the  preachers  of  the  Gospel  the  words  which 
the  Psalroist  used  in  regard  to  the  works  of  creation, 
every  where  declaring  God's  glory:  "Their  sound 
went  out  into  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  unto  the 
ends  of  the  world."     Rom.  x.  18. 

So  famous  was  one  of  the  early  churches  even 
then,  that  Paul  says :  "  Your  faith  is  spoken  of 
throughout  the  whole  world."  Rom.  i.  8.  Almost 
every  historical  chapter,  relating  to  events  subsequent 
to  Christ's  ascension,  contains  proofs  of  the  triumphs 
of  truth,  of  which  the  like  can  seldom  be  found  in 
modern  times.  For  centuries  the  growth  of  the  church 
was  amazing.  About  the  end  of  the  second  or  the 
beginning  of  the  third  century,  Tertullian  thus  ad- 
dresses the  cruel  persecutors  of  the  Christians  :  "  We 
could  also  make  a  terrible  war  upon  you  without  arms 
or  fighting  at  all,  by  being  so  passively  revengeful,  as 
only  to  leave  you;  for  if  so  numerous  a  host  of 
Christians  should  but  retire  from  the  empire  into  some 
remote  region  of  the  world,  the  loss  of  so  many  men 
of  all  ranks  and  conditions  would  leave  a  hideous  gap 
and  a  shameful  scar  upon  the  government;  and  the 
very  evacuation  would  be  abundant  revenge.  You 
would  stand  aghast  at  your  desolation,  and  be  struck 
dumb  at  the  general  silence  and  horror  of  nature,  as 
if  the  whole  world  had  departed.  You  would  be  at 
a  loss  for  men  to  govern."*     In  the  beginning  of  the 

*  «  Tertull.  Apol.  contra  Gent."  cap.  37. 


SERMON 


seventli  century,  there  were  in  many  places  thirty 
Christians  to  one  pagan,  so  mightily  grew  the  word  of 
God  and  prevailed. 

It  would    be  unwise   to  compare  our  own  with 
other  branches  of  the  church  equally  or  more  feeble, 
lukewarm,  and  inefficient.     We  are  foolishly  prone  to 
make  comparisons,  which  shall  flatter  our  vanity  and 
excuse  our  want  of  zeal.     Pride,  sloth,  and  carnal  se- 
curity, the  worst  vices    of   a  church,    will   thus   be 
nomished.     K  we  compare  om^elves  with  others,  let  us 
take  the  best  models  furnished  us.     The  best  of  mere 
men  have  never  been  so  holy,  so  humble,  so  useful,  as 
the  word  of  God  demanded.     Let  us  then  look  at  our 
own  and  the  primitive  church  in  respect  to  efficiency. 
The  facts  concerning  the  latter  have  been  briefly  al- 
luded to.     They  are  generally  known.     The  last  ten 
years  of  om^  history  perhaps  affi)rd  as  favourable  a  spe- 
cimen of  our  efficiency  as  any  other  equal  period. 

In  the  year  ending  May  1839,  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  embraced 
11  synods,  96  presbyteries,  192  licentiates,  1243  min- 
isters, 1823  churches,  and  128,043  communicants. 
The  same  year  it  contributed  to  various  specified  reli- 
gious purposes  123,436  dollars,  less  than  one  dollar  for 
each  communicant. 

In  the  year  ending  May  1849,  we  had  23  synods, 
122  presbyteries,  252  licentiates,  1860  ministers,  2512 
churches,  and  200,830  communicants.  During  the 
same  time  we  gave,  for  the  same  objects  as  stated 


10  S  E  E  M  O  N  . 

above,  217,327  dollars,  a  little  more  than  one  dollar  for 
eacli  member.  The  miscellaneous  collections  for  both 
years  are  omitted.  The  average  annual  increase 
for  ten  years  has  been  61  ministers,  68  churches, 
and  7271  communicants.  Take  from  the  sum  of  mo- 
ney given  all  that  was  actually  derived  from  non- 
communicants,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  average  con- 
tributions of  communicants  have  been  below  one  dol- 
lar. During  each  or  any  one  of  the  ten  years,  the 
additions  to  our  churches,  on  examination,  have  not 
averaged  ^ve  to  each  ordained  minister,  lea\dng  out 
licentiates  altogether.  Many  years  it  has  been  consi- 
derably less. 

From  this  brief  review,  it  clearly  appears  that  we 
are  not  utterly  forsaken.  There  are  amongst  us  some 
tokens  for  good.  God  has  not  pronounced  the  curse 
of  utter  barrenness  upon  us.  Every  good  man  must 
feel  that  in  proportion  to  the  zeal  of  the  church,  the 
reward  has  been  great,  and  calls  for  songs  of  praise. 

But  the  things  which  remain,  need  to  be  greatly 
strengthened.  Our  church  is  far  below  the  primitive 
church  in  efficiency.  Allowing  each  apostle  and  each  of 
the  seventy  to  have  been  the  means  of  converting  five 
souls  annually,  at  the  end  of  one  year  their  converts 
would  have  been  only  four  hundred  and  ten ;  whereas 
in  one  day  there  "  were  added  about  three  thousand 
souls."  That,  indeed,  was  a  wonderful  day,  even  for 
those  times ;  but  when  were  three  thousand  souls 
added  in  one  day  under  all  our  ministers  ?     There  is 


SEEM  ON.  11 

need  of  a  great  change  amongst  us.  Our  churcli  is 
far  from  being  what  she  ought  to  be ;  far  from  doing 
what  she  ought  to  do.  Xo  wise  man  will  be  offended 
by  such  a  statement.     You  should  never  forget : 

1.  That  God  alone  can  make  a  church  efficient. 
This  honour  he  claims  in  all  the  Scriptures.  If  the 
disciples  multiplied,  it  was  because  "  the  Lord  added 
daily  "  to  their  number.  He  "  gave  the  increase."  A 
church  is  never  efficient  by  her  "  own  power  or  holi- 
ness," but  by  the  grace  and  Spiiit  of  God,  who  "  divi- 
deth  to  every  man  severally  as  he  will."  God  is  a 
sovereign.  His  counsel  shall  stand.  Xothing  is  too 
hard  for  him.  Any  thing  is  too  hard  for  us,  until 
we  be  "endued  with  power  from  on  high."  Our 
weajDons  are  indeed  mighty  to  the  pulling  down  of 
strongholds,  but  then  they  are  mighty  "  through  God  " 
alone. 

2.  Nor  is  it  true  that  the  church  or  the  ministry 
is  responsible  for  success.  Such  doctrine  can  never  be 
proved  by  Scripture.  It  condemns  several  of  the 
prophets  and  Christ  himself.  Those  who  maintain  it, 
are  so  far  fanatical ;  and,  if  really  good  men,  must 
often  fall  under  invincible  discouragement. 

3.  Yet  it  is  our  duty  to  desire  success,  to  seek  it 
earnestly,  never  to  rest  satisfied  without  it,  and  deeply 
to  lament  the  want  of  it.  He  who  cares  not  whether 
men  are  saved  or  lost,  is  hard-hearted  and  cruel.  He, 
upon  whom  horror  hath  not  taken  hold  because  of  the 
wicked,  is  not  like  the  saints  of  the  Bible.     Nor  can 


12  SERMON. 

it  be  denied  tliat  ordinarily,  in  his  own  time,  God 
grants  success  in  some  way  and  measure  to  pious,  judi- 
cious and  hearty'  efforts,  so  that  want  of  success  is 
good  ground  of  heart-searching  and  humiliation.  The 
Lord  is  a  God  of  mercy.  He  loves  Zion  and  the  souls 
of  men.  We  do  surely  concm*  with  his  known  plans 
when  we  make  known  the  Gospel  to  all  nations  for 
the  obedience  of  faith. 

The  efficiency  of  a  church  may  be  considered  as 
affected  by  the  private  members,  by  church  officers, 
and  by  benevolent  institutions.  This  view  presents  a 
wide  range,  but  as  hints  only  will  be  offered,  the 
general  subject  will  not  be  lost  sight  of. 

I.  What  then  is  essential  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
great  body  of  private  members  ? 

All  will  agree  that  any  extended  and  permanent 
usefulness  in  the  church  has  its  seat  in  the  piety  of 
her  members.  When  a  people  have  long  had  the 
Gospel,  and  cannot  present  a  body  of  truly  pious  per- 
sons as  the  fruit,  the  necessary  inference  is  that  they 
have  never  truly  believed  and  obeyed  God's  word. 
If  souls  are  not  saved  from  sin,  neither  are  they  fi^om 
wrath  ;  and  if  they  are  not  saved  from  sin  and  wrath, 
they  have  received  "  the  grace  of  God  in  vain."  All 
the  humanizing,  civilizing,  refining  effects  of  the  Gos- 
pel, however  pleasant  to  behold,  and  desirable  for  this 
life,  are  no  more  its  end,  than  chaff  is  the  great  end 
sought  in  sowing  precious  grain.  Decency  without 
devotion,  gentility  without  godliness,  forms  without 


SEEM  ON.  13 

spiritual  life,  are  miserable  things.  To  make  a  cliurch 
efficient,  piety  is  important,  as  a  demonstration  of  the 
efficacy  of  the  Gospel,  as  constituting  a  mass  of  evi- 
dence which  infidelity  cannot  argue  away,  as  a  basis  of 
appeal  to  the  consciences  of  unbelievers,  as  one  of  the 
most  practical  modes  of  giving  instruction,  and  as  the 
very  life  of  a  church.  It  is  the  main  spring  of 
nearly  every  good  enterprise,  humane,  social,  intellec- 
tual or  religious.  A  church  may  have  all  else,  but 
without  this  she  is  dead.  A  body  without  a  spirit  is 
not  more  powerless,  than  a  church  without  love  to  God 
and  love  to  man.  Every  work,  promising  much  good, 
demands  faith  in  a  Providence  unseen,  in  promises  not 
yet  fulfilled,  in  a  covenant  whose  administrator  is  in- 
visible. It  demands  self-denial  in  something  which 
flesh  and  blood  worshijDS.  It  requires  hope  against 
many  appearances  to  the  contrary.  It  requires  a  wis- 
dom far  above  the  most  cunning  craftiness ;  a  firmness 
which  delays  cannot  shake  ;  a  humility  which  measures 
not  its  own  abasement ;  a  zeal  which,  like  the  fire  on 
the  altar  of  old,  burns  day  and  night ;  a  fear  of  God 
which  casts  out  the  fear  of  man ;  and  a  love  that  never 
counts  the  cost.  Yet  these  things  are  but  other  names 
for  piety.  Not  a  virtue  in  the  catalogue  but  it 
strengthens  all  other  virtues  and  gives  power  to  the 
saints.  Luther  could  never  have  faced  the  world  as 
he  did,  but  for  his  deep  penitence  before  God.  The 
martyrdom  of  Stephen  chiefly  differed  from  that  of 
some  heathen  men  in  this,  that  he  fervently  prayed  for 


14  SEEM  ON. 

his  murderers.  The  Christian  comes  forth  from  de- 
vout meditation  and  humble  confession  like  a  giant 
refreshed  with  wine.  Even  trials  and  temptations, 
causing  terrific  conflicts,  give  strength  and  courage. 
Luther  truly  said :  "  A  Christian  well  tempted  is 
worth  a  thousand."  Piety  then  is  essential  to  the  effi- 
ciency of  a  church.  Other  things  being  equal,  the 
more  pious  a  community,  the  greater  and  more  benign 
will  be  its  power.  It  cannot  be  believed  that  a 
church,  abounding  with  eminently  pious  members, 
would  not  be  more  mighty  for  good  than  ours  has 
ever  been. 

As  a  consequence  of  eminent  piety,  the  members 
of  a  church  vnR  and  should  abound  in  prayer,  in  all 
prayer,  secret,  social  and  public.  The  mercies  of  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  the  wonders  of  love  at  Shotts  in 
Scotland,  at  Enfield  in  Connecticut,  and  at  many 
other  times  and  places,  as  we  learn  from  credible 
sources,  were  all  preceded  by  much  and  earnest  prayer. 
Perhaps  in  nothing  are  we  as  a  church  more  deficient, 
than  in  supplications  with  tears  and  strong  cryings  to 
God.  After  all  our  times  of  special  observance,  how 
little  prayer,  like  that  of  patriarchs,  prophets  and  apos- 
tles, is  made  unto  God !  Yet  it  is  only  such  prayer 
that  is  likely  to  avail  much.  Such  prayer  was  never 
more  necessary  or  more  efficacious  than  in  our  day. 

A  readiness  to  every  good  work  is  also  necessary 
in  the  private  members  of  a  church.  Some  dream  of 
doing  good,  but  never  do  it.     "  Hypocrisy  delights  in 


S  E  E  M  0  N  .  15 

the  most  sublime  speculations ;  for  never  intending  to 
go  beyond  speculation,  it  costs  nothing  to  bave  it  mag- 
nificent." How  does  a  dread  of  failure  press  down 
many,  as  if  every  exertion  of  duty  was  not  attended 
witb  some  hazard.  What  means  this  strange  reluctance 
to  encounter  opposition  and  obloquy  ?  Who  ever  did 
much  for  his  generation  unless  he  was  willing  to  be 
esteemed  by  fools  a  candidate  for  contempt?  As 
surely  as  Nehemiah  will  rebuild  Jerusalem,  so  surely 
will  Tobiah  say :  "  Even  that  which  they  build,  if  a 
fox  go  up,  he  shall  break  down  their  stone  wall."  Too 
often  the  church  takes  counsel  of  her  foes  and  her 
fears,  rather  than  of  her  King  and  her  God.  Sloth  in 
Christ's  cause  consumes  many.  How  few  lay  out  all 
their  energies  in  promoting  the  glory  of  God  !  Is  not 
covetousness  eating  the  very  vitals  of  piety  in  ten  thou- 
sand cases  ?  The  voice  of  divine  warning  cries :  "  Ye 
cannot  serve  God  and  mammon :"  "  If  any  man  love 
the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him." 
"They  that  will  be  rich,  fall  into  temptation,  and  a 
snare,  and  into  many  foolish  and  hurtful  lusts,  which 
drown  men  in  destruction  and  perdition."  Yet  how 
few  are  made  the  wiser  thereby  !  If  good  men  every 
where  firmly  believed  that  "  it  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive,"  and  could  catch  the  spirit  of  those 
good  men,  who  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their 
goods,  what  a  new  face  things  would  every  where  put 
on  !  Then  "  the  Lord  God  would  cause  righteousness 
and  praise  to  spring  forth  before  aU  nations ;"  then  "  a 


16  SEEM  ON. 

little  one  should  become  a  thousand,  and  a  small  one 
a  strong  nation  :"  tlien  "  tlie  Lord  would  comfort  Zion, 
He  would  comfort  all  lier  waste  places,  and  make  her 
wilderness  like  Eden,  and  her  desert  like  the  garden 
of  the  Lord ;  joy  and  gladness  should  be  found  therein, 
thanksgiving  and  the  voice  of  melody." 

II.  What  sort  of  officers  are  necessary  to  the  effi- 
ciency of  a  church  ?  There  are  three  classes  of  officers, 
deacons,  elders  and  ministers.  Concerning  the  first 
and  second  of  these,  time  forbids  much  to  be  said. 
But  they  should  be  eminently  devoted  and  humble 
men,  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  wise  as  serpents,  lovers 
of  good  men,  full  of  zeal,  hating  covetousness,  pursuing 
peace,  cultivating  a  high  public  spirit,  always  magni- 
fying their  office,  ready  to  every  good  work,  men  of 
blameless  lives,  of  great  self-control,  and  fond  of  their 
proper  work. 

Concerning  ministers,  the  occasion  demands  more 
extended  remarks.  They  must,  then,  be  truly  and 
eminently  pious.  Unless  truly  pious,  their  every  ser- 
mon will  be  a  verdict  against  their  own  souls,  every 
duty  of  their  office  a  dull  ceremony,  and  every  prayer 
a  prelude  to  the  wailings  of  despair.  An  unconverted 
ministry  is  one  of  the  sorest  plagues  ever  sent  on  men. 
It  can  at  best  lead  its  followers,  where  it  goes  itself, 
to  the  prison  of  eternal  justice.  Surely  "boxes  that 
contain  sweet  perfumes  ought  themselves  to  be  sweet." 
And  unless  ministers  be  eminently  pious,  how  can  they 
go  before  the  people,  and  beckon  them  on  to  new  and 


SERMON.  17 

liigli  achievements  ?  Will  not  ministerial  duties  be 
tasks,  and  ministerial  fruit  and  comfort  be  small, 
where  piety  is  languid,  and  faith  weak  ?  We  must 
also  have  a  learned  ministry,  and  for  many  reasons : 
first^  the  very  words  of  the  Holy  Ghost  are  in  dead 
languages ;  secondly^  they  w^ho  are  set  for  the  defence 
of  the  Gospel  will  meet  with  subtle  and  learned  ad- 
versaries, who  will  delight  to  overwhelm  truth  with 
reproach,  unless  their  folly  be  made  manifest ;  and 
tliirdly^  it  takes  no  small  amount  of  learning  to  make 
plain  to  most  minds  the  great  things  of  God.  An 
ignorant  ministry  may  do  as  much  harm  as  an  ungodly 
ministry.  "  Lay  hands  suddenly  on  no  man."  But 
lay  hands  'never  on 

"  Skulls  that  cannot  teach,  and  will  not  learn." 

"Give  thyself  to  reading."  "Meditate  upon  these 
things  ;  give  thyself  wholly  to  them,  that  thy  profiting 
may  appear  unto  all,"  is  still  the  rule  for  a  minister's 
studies.  "The  priest's  lips  shall  keep  knowledge." 
He  who  feeds  not  the  people  with  knowledge  has  the 
instruments  of  a  "foolish  shepherd."  Truth  in  its 
purity,  in  its  simplicity,  in  its  harmonies,  is  the  staple 
of  pulpit  instruction.  Nor  can  fluency,  eloquence,  zeal, 
piety,  age,  or  activity,  ever  be  admitted  as  substitutes 
for  solid  learning.  If  an  ignorant  ministry  can  save 
our  country,  it  is  ali^eady  sufficiently  numerous  without 
our  swelling  its  list.     To  relax  the  rigour  of  our  rules 

2 


18  SEE  M  O  N  . 

on  this  subject  would  be  fatal  to  our  prospects  as  a 
Cliurch.  One  of  the  questions  formerly  asked  of  the 
elder  concerning  his  pastor  before  the  Scottish  pres- 
byteries was :  "  Does  he  minde  his  booke  ?"  "  The 
head  of  my  College,"  says  Knox,  "procured  me  a 
curacy  in  a  small  country  town.  Thither  I  went,  not 
without  my  collection  of  books,  the  use  of  which  I 
would  not  have  foregone  for  a  mitre."  Paul,  when  an 
old  man,  and  a  prisoner,  sent  across  the  sea  more  than 
^ve  hundred  miles  for  his  books  and  parchments.  Of 
one  who  had  the  leprosy  in  his  head,  the  law  said : 
"  The  priest  shall  pronounce  him  utterly  unclean ;  the 
plague  is  in  his  head."  Lev.  xiii.  44.  An  unconverted 
minister,  who  preaches  truth,  has  often  been  compared 
to  a  sign-post,  which  directs  others,  but  stirs  not  itself. 
But  if  he  be  ignorant  also,  he  is  like  an  unlettered 
post,  which  neither  goes  itself,  nor  tells  others  the 
road.  "  If  it  be  said,  God  has  no  need  of  our  learning, 
it  is  sufficient  to  reply,  neither  has  he  of  our  igno- 
rance."* If  any  say  it  is  God's  plan  to  save  men  by 
the  foolishness  of  preaching,  the  answer  is,  that  he  has 
never  said  he  will  save  men  by  foolish  preaching. 

An  efficient  ministry  must  also  be  active  and  ener- 
getic. God  seems  to  have  no  patience  with  men  of  a 
contrary  character.  Hear  him  :  "  His  watchmen  are 
all  blind  ;  they  are  ignorant ;  they  are  all  dumb  dogs, 
they  cannot  bark;   sleeping,  lying   down,  loving  to 

*  South. 


S  E  E  ^r  0  N  .  19 

slumber.  Yea,  tliey  are  greedy  dogs,  which  can  never 
have  enough."  Isa.  Ivi.  10,  11.  This  language  of  di- 
vine derision  could  hardly  be  more  terrible.  "  Better 
is  it  to  be  awaked  with  rudeness,  or  even  by  a  false 
alarm,  than  to  be  allowed  to  sleep  on  in  the  midst  of 
dano^er.  Who  would  muzzle  the  mouth  of  the  wake- 
fill  animal,  that  guards  the  house  against  thieves, 
because  the  inhabitants  are  frequently  disturbed  by 
his  nocturnal  vociferations,  or  substitute  in  his  place  a 
'dumb  dog  that  cannot  bark,  sleeping,  lying  down, 
loving  to  slumber  V  "* 

Cotton  Mather  tells  us,  that  on  occasion  of  a  great 
meeting  in  Amyclae,  a  cry  of  fire  was  heard,  and  the 
assembly  broken  up  in  confusion.  The  apprehensions 
thus  excited  were  found  to  be  groundless,  and  the 
wise  men  determined  that  hereafter  any  one  giving  a 
false  alarm  should  be  subjected  to  pains  and  penalties. 
Thereafter  when  men  saw  an  unusual  smoke  or  blaze 
they  did  not  dare  to  express  their  fears,  lest  it  should 
be  only  the  burning  of  a  chimney.  At  last  the  fire 
gained  such  power,  that  when  the  cry  was  heard,  it 
could  not  be  extinguished  :  and  so  it  came  to  pass, 
that  the  town  of  Amyclse  was  destroyed  by  silence. 
Many  a  soul  has  been  ruined  by  silence.  We  need 
wakeful  and  stirring  men  every  where.  That  was  a 
good  saying  of  Augustine :  "  Episcopatus  non  est  arti- 
ficium  transigendse  vitse." 

*  McCrie's  Life  of  Knox,  p.  297.' 


20  SERMON. 

The  passage  just  quoted  from  Isaiah  puts  dumb 
dogs  and  greedy  dogs  together,  and  so  we  often  see 
sloth  and  covetousness  united.  To  be  greedy  of  filthy 
lucre  is  a  scriptural  disqualification  for  the  sacred 
office.  It  has  long  been  said  by  the  wits  of  England 
that  every  thing  suffers  by  translation  except  a  bishop. 
Is  there  no  cause  for  saying  the  same  in  this  land  ?  It 
is  not  true  that  there  are  no  temptations  to  this  sin  in 
the  American  churches.  But  a  covetous  ministry  was 
never  efficient. 

An  humble  ministry  is  greatly  needed.  Those 
who  lord  it  over  God's  heritage  have  no  right  in  the 
house  of  God.  He  who  minds  high  things,  who  con- 
descends not  to  men  of  low  estate,  who  will  not  profit 
by  a  just  reproof,  and  who  is  too  wise  to  learn,  may 
please  himself,  but  cannot  please  Christ.  Blessed  is 
he,  who  can  say  with  a  great  professor  of  theology  of 
another  age  and  country,  "Though  pride  prevails 
much  in  my  heart,  yet  I  think  I  would  trample  it  so 
far  under  my  feet,  as  that  I  would  be  glad  to  see  all 
my  students,  and  not  only  them,  but  all  the  faithful 
ministers  of  Jesus,  bringing  hundreds  or  thousands  of 
souls  with  them  into  heaven,  though  I  should  have  but 
five  or  six."*  It  is  feven  more  strikingly  true  of  minis- 
ters than  of  others,  that  "  when  pride  cometh,  then 
Cometh  shame,"  and  that  "  pride  goeth  before  destruc- 
tion, and  a  haughty  spirit  before  a  fall."  Prov.  xi.  2, 

*  John  Brown,  of  Haddington. 


S  E  E  M  O  N  .  21 

and  xvi.  18.  "Scrutator  majestatis  absorbetur  a  glo- 
ria," was  among  tlie  best  of  patristical  maxims.  Had 
it  always  been  heeded,  bow  many  heresies  and  schisms 
would  have  been  avoided  ! 

We  also  need  a  ministry  free  from  that  love  of 
admiration,  which  is  a  universal  sin.  "  Let  us  not  be 
desirous  of  vainglory."  Gal.  v.  26.  "Let  nothing  be 
done  through  strife  or  vainglory  ;  but  in  lowliness  of 
mind  let  each  esteem  other  better  than  themselves." 
Phil.  ii.  3. 

Nor  is  freedom  from  ambition  less  necessary. 
How  insidious  and  troublesome  this  sin  is,  may  be ' 
judged  from  the  fact  that  it  bred  contentions  in  the 
family  of  Christ,  while  he  was  yet  on  earth.  Almost 
every  page  of  history,  even  of  ecclesiastical  history, 
tells  how  dangerous  it  is. 

An  efficient  ministry  must  reject  the  arts  of  luxury 
and  effeminacy,  and  "  endure  hardness  as  good  soldiers 
of  Jesus  Christ."  "  He  that  striveth  for  the  mastery 
is  temperate  in  all  things  ;"  a  lover  of  good  eating  and 
drinking,  a  clerical  fop,  or  dandy,  are  mthout  honour  in 
the  ministry.  Paul  admits  that  Timothy  had  often 
infirmities,  yet  he  says,  "  Till  I  come  give  attention  to 
reading,  to  exhortation,  to  doctrine."  1  Tim.  iv.  13. 
Every  Moses  has  his  Jethro,  who  says,  "Thou  wilt 
wear  thyself  away."  And  what  if  one  should  spend 
and  be  spent  in  the  work,  will  there  not  be  rest  enough 
in  the  grave  and  in  heaven  ? 

An  efficient  ministry  must  have  a  large  measure  of 


22  S  E  E  M  0  N  . 

magnanimity  and  public  spirit ;  must  sympathize  with 
the  most  generous  sentiments  of  the  age ;  must  not 
stand  higgling  about  trifles ;  and  must  exhibit  that 
nobility,  which  Divine  grace  and  enlarged  culture  can 
surely  give.  A  prodigious  mind  with  no  heart  makes 
a  monster  or  a  devil. 

The  preaching,  which  is  likely  to  prove  efficient, 
must  take  for  its  matter  the  word  of  God.  Woe  to 
him  who  keeps  back  any  part  of  the  counsel  of  God 
through  fear  of  unpopularity.  The  man  of  God  must 
unfold  doctrines,  and  enforce  duties ;  he  must  present 
promises,  and  denounce  threatenings ;  he  must  hold 
forth  encouragements  without  concealing  responsibili- 
ties ;  he  must  preach  the  law  and  the  Gospel  dis- 
tinctly^ and  not  a  mixture  of  both ;  yet  he  must  not 
forget  that  mercy  triumphs  over  judgment,  and  that 
where  sin  abounds,  grace  does  much  more  abound. 
As  a  physician  of  the  soul,  he  must  know  and  declare 
the  extent  of  the  malady,  no  less  than  the  perfection 
of  the  remedy.  As  men  are  poor,  let  him  open  and 
display  the  riches  of  Divine  grace ;  as  they  are  perish- 
ing, let  him  tell  of  One,  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost.  He  who  will  do  his  whole  duty 
in  these  respects,  will  find  neither  time  nor  heart  to 
preach  heathen  morals,  the  poetry  of  religion,  a  vain 
philosophy,  or  any  other  dream.  The  stern  command 
is,  "Preach  the  preaching  that  I  bid  thee."  "The 
prophet  that  hath  a  dream,  let  him  tell  a  dream ;  and 
he  that  hath  my  word,  let  him  speak  my  word  faith- 


SERMON.  23 

fully.  What  is  tlie  cliaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the 
Lord." 

All  good  preaching  is  solemn,  not  gloomy,  nor 
filled  with  whining  cant,  but  free  from  levity  and 
vanity.  He  who  speaks  of  God,  eternity,  sin,  salvar 
tion,  death,  judgment,  heaven  and  hell,  in  a  frivolous 
manner,  is  a  contemptible  trifler.  With  a  buffoon  for 
a  preacher,  no  place  is  as  the  house  of  God,  or  the 
gate  of  heaven.  The  Bible  is  not  a  jest-book,  heaven 
is  not  a  fiction,  hell  is  not  a  dream,  damnation  is  not  a 
chimera ;  it  is  a  solemn  thing  to  die,  it  is  also  a 
solemn  thing  to  live,  and  especially  to  preach  or  hear 
the  GospeL  He  who  "  woos  a  smile"  when  he  should 
"win  a  soul"  is  a  charlatan,  not  an  ambassador  for 
God. 

The  word  of  God  must  be  preached  plainly,  not 
in  allusions  and  doubtful  terms,  not  in  innuendos  and 
learned  phrases,  not  in  words  which  man's  wisdom 
teacheth,  but  in  words  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth, 
not  with  the  refinements  of  the  schools,  but  so  that 
the  women  and  children  may  understand.  Eichard 
Baxter  said,  that  if  ministers  had  sinned  in  Latin,  he 
would  have  written  his  Reformed  Pastor  in  Latin ; 
but  as  they  had  sinned  in  plain  English,  he  must  write 
in  plain  English  also.  Orton  says :  "I  believe  many 
ministers  over-polish  their  sermons."  He  adds  :  "  The 
words  of  God  are  those  that  must  reach  the  heart  and 
do  the  work."  Brown  of  Haddington  says :  "  So  far 
as  I  have  observed  God's  dealings  with  my  soul,  the 


24  SERMON. 

flights  of  preachers  have  entertained  me ;  but  it  was 
Scripture  expressions  that  did  penetrate  my  soul,  and 
that  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  themselves."  Thomas 
Watson  says  of  the  Baptist :  "  John  did  not  preach 
so  much  to  please  as  to  profit.  He  chose  rather  to 
show  men's  sins  than  his  own  eloquence.  That  is  the 
best  looking-glass,  not  which  is  most  gilded,  but  which 
shows  the  truest  face." 

The  Gospel  must  be  preached  boldly.  "  When 
vice  is  bold,  it  is  sad  that  virtue  should  be  sneaking." 
A  tame  or  timid  proclamation  of  God's  laws  or  mer- 
cies, is  miserable  drivelling.  Whenever  the  Jews  were 
filled  with  envy,  and  contradicted  and  blasphemed, 
"  Paul  and  Barnabas  waxed  Bold."  Paul  says :  "  Where- 
in any  is  bold,  I  am  bold  also."  How  much  afraid 
he  was  of  coming  short  in  this  respect,  may  be  judged 
from  the  fact  that  he  besought  the  Ephesians  to  pray 
that  utterance  might  be  given  unto  him,  that  he  might 
open  his  mouth  boldly  to  make  known  the  mystery  of 
the  Gospel,  and  that  he  might  speak  boldly,  as  he 
ought  to  speak."     Eph.  vi.  19,  20. 

Yet  the  word  of  God  must  be  spoken  affection- 
ately. A  harsh,  dogmatical,  censorious  or  objurgatory 
herald  of  truth  is  little  like  him  who  said :  "  Learn  of 
me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly."  A  sinner  saved  by 
grace,  should  live  under  the  power  of  the  law  of  kind- 
ness. Almost  as  well  not  speak  the  truth  at  all,  as 
not  speak  it  in  love.  One  says  that  it  was  fit  that 
Bartimeus  should  tell  all  the  blind  of  the  power  and 


SERMON.  25 

kindness  of  Jesus,  but  it  Trould  have  been  very  un- 
seemly for  him  to  have  taken  a  club  and  beaten  all 
who  would  not  come  to  him.  "  Love  and  say  what 
you  please,"  is  an  old  maxim  in  preaching. 

Boldness  and  love  are  elements  of  earnestness. 
The  Gospel  is  to  be  preached  with  great  earnestness, 
as  if  men  really  believed  it.  The  truth  is,  heaven  is 
open  just  before  us,  hell  is  yawning  just  beneath  us, 
the  avenger  of  blood  is  just  behind  us,  the  axe  is  laid 
at  the  root  of  the  tree,  God  inmates  us,  mercy  opens 
all  her  storehouses,  the  Judge  standeth  before  the 
door,  the  battle  between  the  powers  of  light  and  of 
darkness  rages,  heaven,  earth  and  hell  are  moved  on 
the  subject  of  man's  eternal  destiny ;  and  shall  we,  can 
we  faintly  tell  of  the  great  dangers  of  men,  or  of  the 
greal  salvation  of  God?  What  a  shame  that  upon 
history,  politics,  patriotism,  or  a  Greek  verb,  men 
should  be  earnest,  and  yet  upon  redemption  there 
should  be  a  lifeless  languor ! 

The  Gospel  must  be  preached  diligently  and  labo- 
riously, in  season  and  out  of  season,  publicly  and  from 
house  to  house,  by  day  and  by  night.  In  his  short 
public  life,  Whitefield  preached  more  than  eighteen 
thousand  times.  His  influence  will  be  felt  on  earth 
until  the  millennium.  Alas  for  most  of  us,  "life  is 
half  spent  before  we  know  what  it  is !" 

We  must  preach  faithfiiUy.  Ministers  are  not 
sent  to  prophesy  smooth  things.  The  human  heart 
and  Satan  will  lull  men's  souls  into  security.      Our 


26  S  E  K  M  0  N  . 

work  is  not  to  justify  men  but  God,  not  to  take  sides 
with  rebels,  but  with  their  sovereign.  No  discretion 
is  left  us  in  this  matter.  We  may  never  yield  to  the 
wicked  prejudices,  errors  and  clamors  of  men.  We 
cannot  maintain  God's  cause  by  stealth.  To  stand 
faithful  among  the  faithless,  to  make  open  and  fearless 
war  on  wickedness,  to  vindicate  the  right  and  the  true 
at  all  hazards,  is  the  covenanted  work  of  every  messen- 
ger of  God. 

All  preaching  must  be  enforced  by  example. 
Though  a  man  may  do  some,  yet  he  is  not  likely  to 
do  much  good  by  words,  which  sanctify  not  his  own 
heart.  "  Like  priest,  like  people,"  is  still  the  common 
rule  the  world  over.  With  good  reason,  therefore, 
did  Paul  say  to  Timothy :  "  Be  thou  an  example  of  the 
believers,  in  word,  in  conversation,  in  charity,  in  spirit, 
in  faith,  in  purity."     1  Tim.  iv.  12. 

III.  A  few  observations  respecting  benevolent 
institutions  shall  close  this  discussion.  These  are  of 
two  kinds,  such  as  invite  the  co-operation  of  all  the 
Mends  of  the  Redeemer,  and  such  as  embrace  the 
proper  business  of  a  denomination.  The  church  that 
stands  aloof  from  organizations  which  spread  light  and 
happiness  among  men,  justly  falls  under  suspicion. 
None  but  a  hard  heart  can  fail  to  find  delight  in  any 
truly  benevolent  work.  What  a  shame  and  curse 
would  it  be  to  us  as  a  church,  to  grow  cold  to  the 
Bible  Society,  and  many  other  noble  institutions  in 
our  land !     The  organizations  which  belong  to  us  as  a 


SERMON.  27 

denomination,  are  none  the  less  benevolent  because 
they  are  under  ecclesiastical  control.  Of  both  classes 
of  such  institutions  it  may  be  said,  that  their  origin, 
in  most  cases,  is  to  be  traced  to  some  pressing  neces- 
sity, that  their  beginnings  were  small,  that  their 
founders  seldom  anticipated  even  their  present  en- 
largement, that  their  labours  are  eminently  the  works 
of  faith,  and  that  to  have  refused  to  form  them  would 
have  been  faithlessness.  "  When  bad  men  combine, 
the  good  must  associate."  "  Union  is  strength."  In 
nothing  have  we  a  more  beautiful  illustration  of  the 
great  principle  of  political  economy,  the  utility  of  a 
division  of  labour,  than  in  the  united  efforts  of  good 
men  to  subdue  the  world  to  knowledge  and  to  Christ- 
In  the  management  of  all  these  institutions,  it  is  of 
great  importance  that  they  be  kept  out  of  the  hands 
of  chques,  that  they  be  conducted  on  the  broad  bases 
on  which  they  were  founded,  that  their  officers  be 
men  of  accurate  knowledge  and  enlarged  views,  that 
none  of  them  settle  down  uj^on  their  lees,  that  a 
rousing  \dgour  constantly  animate  them,  and  that  rash 
changes  be  not  permitted  to  impair  public  confidence 
in  them.  To  all  of  them  we  may  apply  the  sayings 
of  a  great  statesman  in  regard  to  politics :  ''It  is  a 
poor  service  that  you  gain  from  responsibility :"  "  It 
is  of  the  ijtmost  moment  not  to  make  mistakes  in 
strong  measures :"  "  Sufficient  appearances  will  never 
be  wanting  to  those  who  have  a  mind  to  deceive  them- 
selves :"  "  A  modification  is  the  constant  resource  of 


28  SERMON. 

weak  undecicling  minds :"  "  A  spirit  of  innovation  is 
generally  tlie  result  of  a  selfish  temper  and  confined 
views  :"  "  Refined  policy  has  ever  been  tlie  parent  of 
confusion ;  and  ever  will  be  so  long  as  the  world  en- 
dures." When  an  American  inquired  of  a  Secretary 
of  the  London  Missionary  Society  concerning  its 
policy,  he  received  this  noble  reply :  "  We  have  no 
policy.  Our  simple  business  is  to  send  the  Gospel  to 
the  heathen."  Could  our  Church  obtain  any  more 
than  her  just  influence  over  institutions  belonging  to 
every  denomination  of  God's  people,  it  would  be  a 
calamity  to  them,  and  a  shame  to  us.  And  could 
any  section  of  the  Church  control  institutions  which 
belong  to  the  whole  denomination,  the  loss  would  be 
tremendous.  Of  all  men  we  have  least  need  of  those 
who  plot,  and  scheme,  and  lay  traps  for  the  confiding. 
Candour  and  fair  dealing  are  the  glory  of  a  man,  the 
glory  of  a  church. 

Towards  all  such  institutions,  therefore,  we  should 
be  vigilant  but  not  suspicious ;  we  should  give  a 
cordial  support  to  those  who  bear  the  burden  of  con- 
ducting their  operations ;  we  should  heartily  pray  for 
them  and  rejoice  in  their  success;  we  should  be  frank 
in  giving  our  ad\dce  and  suggestions,  and  not  be  of- 
fended if  our  opinions  prevail  not ;  and  we  should  aid 
them  with  funds  according  to  our  ability  and  their 
necessities.  Should  our  Church  this  year  give  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  to  the  Bible  Society,  who  doubts 
that  it  would  be  the  signal  for  the  gushing  forth  of 


SERMON.  29 

streams  of  plenty  to  our  own  institutions  ?  But  nig- 
gardliness is  tlie  great  sin  of  tliis  day.  Wlio  does 
not  grieve  at  the  crippled  state  of  every  scheme  of  use- 
fulness which  the  Church  has  approved  ?  Is  it  not  a 
shame  to  the  denomination  that  our  oldest  seminary 
should  have  a  library  of  but  about  seven  thousand  vol- 
imies,  and  many  of  them  small  and  of  little  value? 
Ten  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  books  should  be  put 
there  this  year,  and  provision  should  be  made  for  a 
yearly  accession. 

I  close  by  remarldng  : 

1.  That  our  Church  would  be  far  more  efficient,  if 
she  put  a  just  estimate  upon  the  blessing  of  being 
made  the  instrument  of  great  good  to  men.  We  have 
orthodoxy,  learning,  peace,  order,  wealth,  and  the  no- 
blest theatre  of  action  on  this  globe.  But  where  is 
our  efficiency?  The  wicked  are  wasting  millions  of 
money,  are  wearing  out  giant  intellects,  are  sacrificing 
innumerable  lives,  and  destroying  many  precious 
souls  for  that  which  is  naught ;  but  are  we  not  satis- 
fled  with  doing  almost  nothing  for  him  who  bought  us 
with  his  blood  ?  John  Newton  well  says :  "  He  is  the 
best  fisherman,  not  who  has  the  best  fishing-tackle, 
but  who  catches  the  most  fish."  Rules  are  good,  but 
results  are  better.  In  a  season  of  bodily  ilhiess,  when 
his  mind  was  full  of  missions,  Andrew  Fuller  received 
a  letter  from  a  Scottish  Baj)tist,  saying  much  of  order. 
In  his  sick  room  he  sketched  this  parable  :  "  In  one  of 
the  new  Italian  republics,  two  independent  companies 


30  S  E  E  M  0  N  . 

are  formed  for  tlie  defence  of  tlie  country.     Call  tlie 
one  A  and  the  other  B.     In  forming  themselves,  and 
learning  their  exercise,  they  profess  to  follow  the  mode 
of  discipline  used  by  the  ancient  Romans.     Their  ojfi- 
cers,  uniforms,  and  evolutions  are  after  all  somewhat 
different  from  each  other.     Hence  disputes  arise,  and 
B  refuses  to  march  against  the  enemy  with  A,  as  be- 
ing disorderly.     A  gives  his  reasons  why  he  thinks 
himself  orderly ;  but  they  are  far  from  satisfying  B, 
who  not  only  treats  him  as  deviating  from  rule,  but 
as  almost  knowing  himself  to  do  so,  and  wilfully  per- 
sisting in  it.     A,  tired  of  jarring,  marches  against  the 
enemy  by  himself     B  sits  at  home  busily  studying 
order  and  discipline.     '  If  your  form  and  rules,'  says 
A,  '  are  so  preferable  to  ours,  why  do  you  not  make 
use  of  them  ?     Discipline  is  a  means,  not  an  end.     Be 
not  always  boasting  of  your  order,  and  reproaching 
others  for  the  want  of  it ;  let  us  see  the  use  of  it.' "   The 
interpretation  of  the  parable  is  easy.     It  is  time  to 
march  against  the  enemy.     It  is  high  time  to  be  on 
the  battle-field.     Every  man  should  be  at  his  post 
clad  in  the  panoply  of  God.     It  was  a  terrible  rebuke 
of  a   presbyter    to    his    diocesan:    "Bishop,  bishop, 
charity  is   above  rubrics."     It  is   better   to   be   like 
Jonathan  and  his  armour-bearer   in   the  garrison  of 
the  Philistines,  than,  like  Saul,  to  be   asleep  within 
the   trench,  his  spear    stuck   in   the   ground  by  his 
bolster,    and    three   thousand   men   sleeping   around 
him.    Let  us  be  up  and  doing.    Let  us  earnestly  court 


SERMON.  31 

the  best  gifts,  tlie  hardest  labours,  and  the  most  peril- 
ous undertakings,  pro\dded  only  we  have  the  approval 
of  God.  He,  who  is  satisfied  with  little  useftilness,  will 
have  less.  He,  who  would  be  a  blessing  to  thousands, 
will  probably  reach  ten  thousands. 

2.  In  the  business  of  this  day,  it  is  a  happy  cir- 
cumstance that  we  are  not  met  to  consummate  an  ar- 
rangement, which  the  Church  does  not  approve.  In 
several  respects  the  present  might  be  a  time  of  con- 
gratulation. But  the  awfully  solemn  responsibilities 
of  a  professor,  the  trying  nature  of  his  duties,  the 
perils  of  the  times  in  which  we  live,  the  loud  call  for 
hosts  of  able  men,  and  the  low  state  of  piety  in  most 
places,  may  well  silence  congratulations,  and  bring  us 
to  our  knees.  The  services  of  this  day  have  an  inti- 
mate connection  with  the  honour  of  religion,  the  glory 
of  Christ,  and  the  decisions  of  the  last  day.  It  was 
no  small  part  of  the  work  of  Christ  on  earth  to  pre- 
pare twelve  men  to  preach  the  Gospel.  What  meek- 
ness, what  fidelity,  what  zeal,  what  perseverance  he 
displayed !  'No  man  can  avoid  eternal  shame  in  so 
difficult  a  work,  but  by  taking  hold  of  God's  strength, 
and  ceasing  from  man.  If  any  one  has  a  right  to  ask 
God's  people  never  to  forget  him  in  their  prayers,  it 
is  a  professor  in  such  an  institution.  "  A  man  can  re- 
ceive nothing  except  it  be  given  him  from  heaven." 
But  divine  mercy  has  made,  and  divine  faithfulness 
will  fulfil  the  promise,  "My  grace  is  sufficient  for 
thee."     This  is  enough. 


32  SERMON. 

If  one,  who  is  less  than  the  least  of  all  God's 
mercies,  might  say  a  few  words  to  his  brother,  who  is 
this  day  to  be  inaugurated,  they  would  be  such  as 
these :  God  has  given  you  a  high  place,  see  that  you 
adorn  it.  Kemember  that  life  is  short,  and  improve 
each  day.  Never  forget  that  your  example,  your 
words,  your  spirit,  will  mould  the  characters  of  others. 
Be  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  his  might. 
Be  not  easily  discouraged.  Hope  on,  hope  ever.  Re- 
member that  Christ  and  his  people  have  intrusted 
to  you  the  most  precious  jewels.  Never  forget  that 
your  students  have  sorrows  demanding  your  tender- 
est  sympathies.  Be  an  elder  brother  among  them. 
Though  they  are  young  and  have  many  crude  opin- 
ions, yet  Milton  and  Homer  once  learned  their  alpha- 
bet, and  the  apostles  were  once  illiterate  and  ignorant 
men.  One  has  well  said»:  "  Of  many  students,  not 
more  than  one  can  be  hoped  to  advance  far  towards 
perfection."*  This  is  as  true  of  theological  as  of  other 
students ;  yet  if  one  very  able  man  can  be  raised  up 
for  each  synod  in  our  connection,  what  a  blessing  will 
follow  !  And  now  cannot  all  of  us  mingle  benediction 
and  supplication  over  this  brother,  and  say:    '^The 

LOED  BLESS  THEE  AND  KEEP  THEE  I   ThE  LoRD  MAE:E  HIS 

face  to  shine  upon  thee,  and  be  gracious  unto 
thee:    The  Lord   left   up   his   countenance  upon 

THEE   AND   GIVE    THEE  PEACE :     ThE  LoRD   HEAR  THEE 

*  Dr.  Johnson. 


S  E  K  M  0  N  .  33 

IN   THE    DAY    OF   TROUBLE  I     TlIE  NAJklE    OF  THE    GoD   OF 

Jacob  defend  thee,  se:n'd  thee  help  from  the  sanc- 
tuary, AND  STRENGTHEN  THEE  OUT  OF  ZiON ;  REMEM- 
BER ALL  THY  OFFERINGS,  FULFIL  ALL  THY  COUNSEL, 
AND   GRANT   ALL    THY   PETITIONS," 


€^t  5liittinritt(,  Win^  ml  ^akt  nf  tljB  Cliristinn  3JIiHistrit. 
A    CHARGE 

TO     THE    PROFESSOR. 

BY   THE 

REV.  WM.  W.  PHILLIPS,  D.  D., 

FASTOR    OF    THE    FIRST   PRESBSTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   THE   CITY   OF   NEW-YORK. 


CHARGE. 


The  history  of  tlie  past  teaches  us  that  the  ministry 
of  reconciliation  has  hitherto  exerted — and  the  Bible 
warrants  the  assertion — that  it  is  destined  hereafter 
to  exert  a  more  important  influence  than  any  other 
agency.  It  must  most  deeply  affect  all  the  best  inter- 
ests of  men,  and  is  immediately  connected  with  the 
highest  glory  of  God.  By  it  his  moral  perfections, 
and  his  counsels  concerning  the  vocation,  sanctification 
and  glorification  of  his  people  are  to  be  made  known. 
For  He  has  been  pleased  to  ordain  that  the  exercise 
of  this  office  should  be  the  means  of  saving  them  that 
believe ;  of  preserving  and  edifpng  the  Church  until 
her  complete  and  final  triumph  shall  have  been 
achieved,  and  all  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall 
have  been  gathered  into  his  fold.  He  has  therefore 
adapted  it  to  perform  its  great,  powerful,  and  glorious 
work. 


38  C  H  A  E  G  E  . 

I.    In  the  first  place,  those  who  exercise   it  are 
clothed  with  diyeste  authoeity.     They  are  to  be  a 
distinct  order  of  men,  set  apart  for  the  work.    The 
names  and  titles  by  which  they  are  distinguished  are 
all  significant  of  the  nature  and  design  of  their  office, 
and  cannot  be  applied  to  believers  indiscriminately. 
Their  qualifications  are  mentioned,  their  peculiar  duties 
are  enumerated,  and  the  manner  of  their  induction 
into  office  is  pointed  out  in  the  word  of  God.     All  are 
not  permitted  to  assume  the  office  of  the  ministry 
whenever  they  may  feel  themselves  to  be  self-moved 
thereto,  or  whenever  they  may  choose   to  take  the 
honour  of  it  to  themselves ;  but  those  only  who  are 
called   to   it  of   God,   and   are   regularly   appointed. 
When  our  Lord  ascended  up  on  high  he  gave  gifts  to 
men;   some   apostles,  and  some   prophets,    and   some 
evangelists,  and   some  pastors  and   teachers,  for  the 
perfecting   of  the  saints  for  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try, for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ,  till  we 
all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ.     Eph. 
iv.  11-13.     It  is  true,  the  apostles  were  extraordinary 
officers,  ordained    immediately   by   our    Lord    Jesus 
Christ,  to  perform  a  special  work  which  needed  not  to 
be  repeated;    and  it   was   essential   that   those  who 
acted  as  apostles  should  have  seen  the  Lord,  so  that 
they  could  not  as  such  have  any  successors ;   yet  as 
there  never  has  been  and  never  can  be  a  church-state 


CHARGE.  39 

without  a  ministry,  and  as  tlie  same  necessity  wliicli 
required  tlie  appointment  at  first  still  exists  and  will 
continue  to  exist  until  the  end  of  time,  the  office  of  an 
ordinary  ministry  must  be  perpetual.  We  accordingly 
find  in  the  Scriptures  that  the  apostles  ordained  pres- 
byters and  elders  in  every  church,  and  commanded 
them  to  ordain  others ;  enjoining  it  upon  the  churches 
to  obey  them  in  theii^  official  capacity. 

The  promise  of  the  Saviour,  annexed  to  the  words 
of  its  institution,  implies  that  it  was  to  be  continued 
in  the  Church  and  to  be  clothed  T\dth  the  same  author- 
ity :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  teach  all  nations, 
baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the 
Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe 
all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you ;  and  lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world." 

Those  whom  the  Saviour  then  addressed  did  not 
continue  in  the  body  until  the  end  of  the  world ;  they 
served  the  Church  during  their  generation,  and  went 
to  their  reward ;  but  their  office  must  continue,  and 
those  who  exercise  it  lawfully  have  the  same  authority 
and  an  interest  in  the  same  promise.  As  it  was  said 
of  the  Saviour,  "that  he  taught  not  as  the  Scribes, 
but  as  one  having  authority  ;"  so  may  it  be  said  in  a 
subordinate  sense  of  those  who  come  in  his  name.  He 
has  commissioned  them,  saying,  "  As  my  Father  hath 
sent  me,  so  send  I  you ;  he  that  receiveth  you  re- 
ceiveth  me."     He  has  authorized  them  to  say,  "  Now 


40  CHARGE. 

then  we  are  ambassadors  for  Clirist,  as  though  God 
did  beseech  you  by  us  ;  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead, 
be  ye  reconciled  to  God." 

II.  The  Nature  of  their  Message  and  of  their 
work  is  in  itself,  as  well  as  by  divine  appointment, 
adapted  to  produce  the  most  important  results.  They 
make  known,  ministerially,  the  one  only  living  and 
true  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent.  They 
communicate  that  knowledge  which  lies  at  the  foun- 
dation of  all  true  religion,  the  knowledge  of  the  only 
legitimate  object  of  worship  and  of  his  mind  and  will. 
Him,  whom  all  nature  adores,  whom  aU  his  works 
praise,  whom  the  human  mind,  blinded  by  sin,  seeks 
after  and  ignorantly  worships,  they  declare;  evdn 
Jehovah  the  great  first  Cause,  the  Creator  of  the 
heavens  and  of  the  earth,  the  self-existent,  eternal  and 
unchangeable  God.  They  make  known  his  holy  law, 
the  only  true  and  ultimate  standard  of  righteousness, 
the  infallible  test  of  virtue  and  of  character,  of  truth 
and  of  morals;  by  which  all  sentiments,  opinions, 
doctrines  and  conduct  are  to  be  tried,  and  which  is  to 
be  regarded  as  higher  than  the  fitness  of  things,  being 
before  and  lying  back  of  all  things,  and  as  above  the 
consciences  of  men,  being  the  law  of  the  human  con- 
science. 

They  are  sent  to  declare  the  sentence  of  this  law 
respecting  the  children  of  men,  from  which  they  may 
learn  their  guilt  and  condemnation,  and  the  relation 
they   sustain    to    their    Lawgiver    as    transgressors: 


CHAEGE.  41 

"  Cursed  is  every  one  that  contmueth  not  in  all  things 
written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them."  This  solemn 
and  startling  declaration  being  the  truth,  and  coming 
armed  with  divine  authority,  finds  a  response  in  every 
sinner's  conscience.  It  is  often  delivered  in  the  presence 
of  some  who  do  not  hear  it,  whose  minds  are  elsewhere  ; 
but  those  who  do  attend  to  it  and  who  are  capable  of 
understanding  it,  cannot  hear  it  with  indifference ; 
they  must  feel  themselves  condemned  by  it,  and  hence 
they  will  either  make  light  of  it  and  attempt  to  evade 
the  application  of  it,  or  will  rise  in  the  enmity  of  their 
carnal  minds  against  it  with  resentment  and  indigna- 
tion, or  convinced  of  its  truth,  they  will  acknowledge 
it.  Even  those  who  affect  the  greatest  indifference  re- 
specting it,  are  at  times  troubled  and  made  superstitious 
by  it ;  there  are  moments  when  they  dare  scarcely  to 
be  alone ;  when  the  thoughts  of  death,  and  of  what 
may  be  after  death,  intrude;  and  when  they  are 
shocked  by  the  reflection  that  this  declaration  may  be 
true.  We  know  how  easy  it  is  for  God,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  his  law,  to  disquiet  the  conscience ; 
to  fill  it  with  terrors  and  an  overwhelming  sense  of 
sin. 

But  God  does  not  leave  them  here  ;  his  ministers 
are  sent  with  a  message  of  peace  and  reconciliation : 
they  are  sent  to  preach  the  gospel,  to  proclaim  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  the  chief  of  sinners.  It  is 
this  especially  which  gives  them  great  advantage  over 
all  other  teachers,  and  such  an  unparalleled  influence 


42  CHARGE. 

for  good.  They  are  permitted  to  teacli  tlie  doctrine 
of  forgiveness,  and  to  make  known  the  way  in  which 
it  has  been  obtained,  which  gives  assurance  to  all  that 
it  is  efficacious.  They  are  enabled  to  answer  the 
momentous  questions, — Wherewithal  shall  we  come 
before  the  Lord  ?  How  shall  man  be  just  with  God  ? 
What  must  we  do  to  be  saved  ?  questions  which  have 
most  painfully  perplexed  the  minds  of  all  who  have 
been  left  Tvdthout  a  revelation  from  heaven  ;  nor  have 
they  ever  been  answered  except  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  If  God  is  just,  true  and  unchangeable,  and  if 
man  is  a  sinner,  and  death  the  wages  of  sin,  then  how 
can   the   sinner   escape    liis    righteous   doom? 

The  sentence  of  condemnation  against  him  must 
be  executed,  or  God  must  deny  himself  There 
must  be  an  atonement  made  for  his  sin,  such  as 
shall  satisfy  divine  justice  and  be  acceptable  to  God, 
or  the  sinner  cannot  escape.  This  truth  has  been 
felt  and  acknowledged  by  the  whole  human  race ;  as  ap- 
pears in  the  various  rites  and  ceremonies  which  have 
been  religiously  observed,  in  the  voluntary  humility, 
privations,  self-denial,  fasts,  and  bodily  torture  to  which 
many  have  submitted  with  a  view  of  making  such 
atonement,  and  in  the  self-righteous  spirit  which 
characterizes  all  of  us,  in  the  tenacity  with  which  we 
cling  to  some  fancied  goodness  in  ourselves,  as  a 
commendation  to  God  and  a  ground  of  our  acceptance. 
But  we  can  never  commend  ourselves  to  God  by  any 
works  we  can  perform,  nor  make  an  atonement  for  our 


C  H  A  E  G  E  .  43 

sins  by  any  offerings  of  silver  or  gold,  or  of  the  blood 
of  animals. 

It  is  tbe  blood  of  Christ  slied  in  the  sacrifice  by 
the  appointment  of  God,   and  that  alone,  which  can 
cleanse  from  sin  ;  and  the  knowledge  of  this  is  essential 
to  human  happiness.     The  redemption  that  is  in  Christ 
is  the  only  remedy  for  fallen  man :  only  this  meets  the 
exigency  of  the  case  of  the  sinner,  and  can  effectually 
restore  him.     The  great  work  of  the  ministry  is  to^ 
make  known,  and  to  offer,  this  redemption.     Is  it  not 
to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  men  who  have  this  trea- 
sure intrusted  to  them,  who  have  the  chief  good  to 
impart  instrumentally,  who  can  teach  the  way  of  life, 
are  prepared  ^ith  promises  of  grace,  of  mercy  and  of 
strength,  adapted  to  every  case,  and  can  administer 
consolation  under  all  circumstances,  should  exert  great 
influence  ?     They  can  speak  with  confidence  and  bold- 
ness, having  certain  knowledge  of  the  truths  they  de- 
clare.   They  come,  not  to  utter  conjectures,  to  publish 
their  own  opinions  ;  nor  yet  do  they  come  to  amuse  or 
to  astonish,  by  setting  forth  the  fruits  of  their  own 
investigations    in    different    departments   of   science. 
But  they  come  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  to 
declare  his  statutes,  and  to  make  known  his  judgments, 
to  publish  matters  of  faith  and  duty,  with  authority 
to  require   men  to  believe  and  obey  Him  who  sent 
them.     They  come  to  warn  every  man,  and  to  teach 
every  man,  apprising  them  of  the  certain  issue  of  a 
message,  armed  with   the  solemn  sanctions    of    law. 


44  CHARGE. 

Those  wlio  believe,  tlirougli  tlieir  preacliing,  are  said  to 
have  received  tlieir  message,  "  not  as  tlie  word  of  man, 
but  as  it  is  in  truth,  the  word  of  God ;"  and  their  faith 
stands  "  not  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power 
of  God."  Their  declarations  and  denunciations  are 
very  different  from  the  essays  and  orations  delivered 
by  men,  as  the  offepring  of  their  ot\ti  minds,  and  the 
effect  is  different.  The  latter  are  regarded  as  matters  of 
opinion,  which  may  be  embraced  or  rejected  ^^th  im- 
punity, and  can  never  produce  a  deep,  radical,  and 
permanent  change  of  character.  They  cannot  control 
the  ruling  passions,  govern  the  conscience,  nor  affect 
the  hearts  of  men.  Mere  philosophy,  falsely  so  called, 
human  wisdom,  the  highest  efforts  of  genius,  the  most 
moving  persuasions  to  \drtue,  without  the  authority 
and  blessing  of  God,  never  effected  a  spiritual  refor- 
mation, in  any,  nor  converted  a  single  soul.  "  Where 
is  the  wise,  where  is  the  scribe,  where  is  the  disputer 
of  this  world  V  What  have  they  ever  accomplished 
towards  the  salvation  of  men  ?  "  Hath  not  God  made 
foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world  ?"  Has  it  not  been 
shown  before  the  universe,  that  man  without  a  revela- 
tion cannot  find  out  God;  cannot  discover  the  chief 
good,  or  the  way  to  attain  it  ?  The  messengers  of  God 
come  to  their  fellow  men  as  their  best  friends,  to  treat 
with  them  respecting  their  most  precious  interests,  both 
for  time  and  eternity.  They  come  to  do  good,  and  not 
evil,  to  save  men,  and  not  to  destroy  them.  They  come 
to  sympathize  mth  them  in  their  sorrows  and  secret 


C  11  A  E  G  E  .  45 

griefs,  being  men  of  like  passions  with  tliem,  and 
havinsr  been  under  tlie  same  condemnation :  wherefore 

III.  The  eelations  which  they  sustaes",  axd  the 
OFFICES  which  THEY  PEEFOEM,  as  teachers,  as  pastors, 
as  peacemakers  and  comforters,  cannot  fail  to  com- 
mend them  to  the  confidence  and  affections  of  those 
among  whom  they  minister,  and  to  give  them  a  salu- 
tary influence. 

They  are  the  divinely  appointed  teachers  of  the 
world.  He  who  commissioned  them,  sent  them  into  all 
the  world,  declaring  that  to  be  their  field  of  labour, 
and  that  their  work  was  to  instruct  men  in  the  most 
important  and  useful  of  all  knowledge — the  knowledge 
of  God,  of  their  duty,  and  of  their  destiny. 

They  are  said,  emphatically,  to  be  the  light  of  the 
world;  having  been  more  especially  set  for  the  de- 
fence and  propagation  of  the  gospel,  as  the  means  of 
promoting  pm^e  and  undefiled  religion.  They  have 
been  set  for  the  rise  or  fall  of  many,  and  must  be  a 
savour  of  life  unto  life,  or  of  death  unto  death.  They 
are  God's  witnesses  against  sin,  in  every  form,  and  in 
favour  of  whatever  things  are  true,  just,  pm'e,  amiable, 
lovely,  and  of  good  report. 

They  are  called  to  testify  that  God  will  render 
to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds.  To  them  who, 
by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing,  seek  for  glory, 
honour,  and  immortality,  eternal  life ;  but  unto  them 
that  are  contentious,  and  do  not  obey  the  truth,  but 
obey  unrighteousness,  indignation  and  wrath,  tribula- 


46  CHARGE. 

tion  and  anguisli.  They  are  cliarged  to  make  known 
wliat  will  be  tlie  rule  of  judgment  in  the  day  of 
final  retribution,  wlien  He  shall  judge  the  secrets 
of  men,  and  at  the  same  time  to  hold  forth  the 
word  of  life.  They  are  the  standard-bearers  in  that 
army,  through  the  instrumentality  of  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  going  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer, 
turning  men  from  darkness  to  light,  and  delivering 
them  from  the  power  of  Satan.  Yet  the  weapons  of 
their  warfare  are  not  carnal,  but  spiritual.  They  are 
armed  with  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word 
of  God.  With  this,  and  according  to  its  laws,  prin- 
ciples and  spirit,  are  they  to  form  the  character  of  the 
rising  generation,  to  correct  and  regulate  public  senti- 
ment, to  promote  the  peace,  order,  and  happiness  of 
society,  to  relieve  the  distressed,  to  comfort  the  afflict- 
ed ;  to  teach  men  how  to  live  usefully,  how  to  suffer 
patiently,  and  how  to  die  triumphantly.  It  must  be 
conceded  by  the  impartial  and  unprejudiced,  that  the 
world  has  been  more  indebted  to  the  sacred  ministry 
for  preserving  and  disseminating  useful  knowledge, 
sound  literature,  the  true  principles  of  liberty,  of  good 
government,  and  of  human  rights,  than  to  any  other 
order  of  men.  They  have  ever  been  the  friends  of 
learning,  of  just  laws,  and  of  free  government,  and 
have  ever  manifested  a  willingness  to  make  sacrifices 
for  the  public  welfare. 

Though  they  have  on  various  occasions  met  with 
strong  opposition,  and  have  sometimes  been  persecuted 


C  n  AEGE.  47 

for  bearing  testimony  to  the  trutli,  and  for  advocating 
the  cause  of  God  and  of  humanity,  they  have  neverthe- 
less persevered  without  fear,  in  the  faithful  discharge  of 
their  duty.  Wherever  there  is  an  enlightened,  faithful, 
and  zealous  ministry,  we  usually  find  an  enlightened, 
liberal,  active,  and  devoted  people.  There  we  find 
the  Sabbath  observed,  benevolent  institutions  sup- 
ported, schools  encouraged,  the  social  duties  perform- 
ed, the  fountains  of  justice  and  of  virtue  uncorrupted, 
and  the  bonds  of  society  made  strong.  Other  means 
of  doing  good  are  important  in  their  place  as  auxilia- 
ries in  evangelizing  the  world ;  but  they  are  all  sub- 
ordinate to  the  ministry,  and  without  it  would  be  com- 
paratively inefficient.  The  Bible,  the  Tract,  the  Sun- 
day School  societies,  are  great  and  noble  institutions , 
we  cannot  express  our  sense  of  their  importance,  nor 
commend  them  too  highly.  But  these  are  intimately 
connected  with,  and  immediately  dependent  on  the 
ministry,  and  could  not  be  successfully  and  perma- 
nently sustained  without  it.  We  must  send  the  living 
teacher  with  the  Bible,  or  it  will  not  be  appreciated, 
read,  or  understood.  If  we  would  promote  the  more 
extensive  and  effectual  dissemination  of  the  Scriptures, 
we  must  send  among  the  people  those  who  have 
learned  their  value,  discovered  their  excellence  and 
glory,  discerned  the  light  of  life  revealed  in  them,  and 
felt  the  consolation  which  they  impart,  and  who  may, 
from  their  own  knowledge  and  experience,  commend 
them  to  others ;  who  may  adapt  and  apply  the  word  to 


48  CHARGE. 

tlie  liearts  and  consciences  of  men  according  to  their  dif- 
ferent circumstances,  and  be  able  rightly  to  divide  it, 
giving  to  each  his  portion  in  season.  So  if  we  would 
secure  the  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath,  circulate  re- 
ligious tracts,  establish  Common  and  Sabbath  Schools, 
we  must  enlighten  public  sentiment,  enlist  men  in  be- 
half of  these  institutions,  and  through  a  living  ministry. 
It  is  the  paramount  institution,  by  the  appointment  of 
God,  and  in  effect  includes  all  other  benevolent  insti- 
tutions. It  originates,  and  in  the  most  effectual  man- 
ner sustains,  every  benevolent  enterprise.  It  opens 
the  springs  of  life  and  furnishes  the  waters  of  salva- 
tion. It  creates  and  directs  into  their  proper  channels 
all  those  tributary  streams  which  are  to  make  glad 
the  city  of  our  God ;  which  are  to  animate,  refresh,  and 
fertilize  the  world.  It  brings  into  requisition  those 
resources  and  agencies  which,  under  God,  are  to  be  the 
means  of  bringing  in  the  latter  day  glory. 

IV.  The  influence  which  ministers  of  Christ  are 
permitted  to  exert,  is  not  derived  so  much  from  their 
divine  authority,  nor  from  the  nature  of  their  message, 
nor  from  the  relations  they  sustain  and  the  offices  they 
perform,  as  from  the  peesence  of  God  with  them. 
Without  Him  they  can  do  nothing  salutary  or  beneficial. 
They  are  entirely  and  constantly  dependent  on  him. 
He  must  bestow  upon  them  their  gifts,  impart  to  them 
their  grace,  strength,  and  commission.  He  must  call 
them  to  their  particular  field  of  labour,  and  hold  them 
up  in  it.     He  must  keep  and  guide  them  from  day  to 


C  H  A  E  G  E  .  49 

day,  and  when  they  liave  watclied,  prayed,  studied,  and 
toiled,  in  planting  and  in  watering,  lie  must  give  the 
increase.  His  presence  with  the  apostles,  working  in 
them  and  with  them  by  many  signs  and  wonders,  was 
the  secret  of  their  success ;  we  can  assign  no  other 
adequate  cause  of  it  in  their  circumstances.  They 
were  without  any  worldly  advantage  or  influence, 
without  friends,  wealth  or  patronage ;  up  to  the  time 
of  their  public  ministry  they  had  lived  in  obscurity ; 
when  they  entered  upon  it,  they  had  to  contend 
against  the  most  bitter  and  inveterate  hatred  of 
Christ  on  the  part  of  the  Jews,  against  their  deeply 
rooted  prejudices,  arising  from  their  peculiar  circum- 
stances, in  addition  to  the  enmity  of  their  carnal  mind, 
and  against  the  ignorance,  superstition,  and  idolatry 
of  the  Gentiles.  The  doctrines  which  they  taught 
were  every  where  spoken  against.  They  were  pure, 
spiritual,  and  exclusive ;  condemning  all  the  existing 
systems  of  religion — all  the  customs,  all  the  worship, 
and  all  the  gods  of  the  nations.  Those  who  embraced 
them  must  suffer  persecution,  take  joyfully  the  spoil- 
ing of  their  goods,  and  lay  down  their  lives  if  need  be. 
Yet  they  triumphed  over  all  opposition ;  gained  con- 
verts wherever  they  went ;  established  Churches  in 
every  city,  town  and  village ;  ordained  ministers  and 
elders  in  them,  and  saw  multitudes  added  to  them 
daily  of  such  as  were  saved. 

Surely  we  have  in  their  success  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  events  that  has  ever  occurred  in  the  his- 

4 


50  C  11  A  K  G  E  . 

tory  of  the  world ;  an  event  whicli  can  be  explained 
only  by  admitting  that  God  was  with  them.  He  ac- 
companied their  preaching  with  the  outpouring  of  the 
Spiiit,  gave  divine  energy  to  the  word  spoken  by 
them,  and  made  it  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation.  He  is  still  the  same ;  his  arm 
is  not  shortened  that  it  cannot  save ;  with  him  is  the 
residue  of  the  Spirit ;  and  his  promise  to  the  ministry 
has  not  yet  run  out,  and  therefore  may  we  expect  that 
it  will  still  exert  its  appropriate  influence  in  the  world. 
But  we  must  remember,  that  its  influence  can  be  salu- 
tary, and  exerted  to  its  full  extent,  only  when  it  is 
what  God  intended  it  to  be.  There  is  no  charm  in 
the  name,  nor  any  virtue  in  the  office  itself,  to  produce 
these  great  and  glorious  results,  mthout  any  reference 
to  the  character  of  the  persons  filling  it,  or  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  execute  it.  All  God's  institutions 
are  wise,  efficacious  and  salutary;  but  it  is  when 
appropriately  used.  The  Sabbath  is  a  blessing  to  man 
when  it  is  sanctified ;  the  ministry  is  a  precious  gift, 
and  most  benevolent  institution,  when  it  is  exercised 
by  pious,  learned,  prudent,  and  faithful  men. 

1.  That  they  may  accomplish  the  end  for  which 
the  ministry  was  appointed  and  prove  a  blessing  to 
the  world,  those  who  exercise  it  must  be  spiritually 
enlightened  and  godly  men,  having  a  knowledge  and 
personal  experience  of  the  power  and  transforming 
influence  of  the  truth,  and  a  love  for  it ;  they  must 
have  confidence  in  its  efficacy  to  sanctify  and  save  them 


CHARGE.  51 

that  believe,  as  well  as  an  assurance  of  the  promised 
presence  of  God  with  them.  They  who  would  faith- 
fully represent  Christ,  and  make  him  known  to  others, 
must  themselves  know  him  and  have  his  Spirit.  They 
who  would  teach  their  fellow-men,  as  becometh  the 
oracles  of  the  living  God,  must  be  rooted  and  ground- 
ed in  the  truth.  Their  office  requires  them  to  beseech 
men,  and  to  pray  them  in  Christ's  stead  to  become 
reconciled  to  God ;  to  be  affectionate,  tender,  and 
gentle,  long-suffering  and  patient,  earnest  and  impor- 
tunate in  calling  sinners  to  repentance,  and  to  speak 
the  truth  in  love ;  to  endure  hardness  as  good  soldiers 
of  Jesus  Christ,  submitting  cheerfully  to  the  toils  and 
privations  of  their  employment ;  to  be  instant  in  sea- 
son and  out  of  season  in  watching  for  the  souls  of  men 
as  those  that  must  give  account ;  and  to  give  them- 
selves wholly  to  the  work  of  feeding  the  flock  of  God, 
comforting  and  encouraging  and  building  them  up  in 
faith  and  holiness.  But  this  they  cannot  do  in  sin- 
cerity, nor  with  a  willing  mind,  if  they  have  never 
learned  the  value  of  their  own  souls,  nor  been  made 
sensible  of  their  o^ti  misery  and  danger  as  sinners — if 
they  have  not  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord  as  their 
Saviour  and  are  not  walking  in  him — if  they  have  not 
tasted  the  blessedness  of  having  their  own  sins  for- 
given, of  having  peace  with  God  and  his  love  shed 
abroad  in  their  hearts.  God  will  have  true  and  tried 
men  for  his  ministry,  men  of  acknowledged  piety  and 
of  good  report. 


52  CHARGE. 

2.  They  must  be  intelligent  and  apt  to  teach  ;  men 
of  cultivated  minds,  possessing  those  intellectual  as 
well  as  moral  qualifications  which  may  render  them 
acceptable  and  useful  public  teachers.  They  must 
have  knowledge,  and  the  faculty  of  communicating  it, 
having  been  prepared  by  diligent  study  and  reading 
to  act  as  workmen  that  need  not  to  be  ashamed.  Such 
a  ministry,  enlightened  and  sanctified,  is  essentially 
needed,  when  profane  knowledge  has  reached  an 
advanced  state,  when  error  and  infidelity  abound, 
and  when  subtle  and  active  opposers  of  sound  doc- 
trine bring  to  their  aid  all  the  stores  of  human  learn- 
ing. 

The  Scriptures  are  to  be  translated  into  the  differ- 
ent languages  of  the  nations  of  the  earth;  heathen 
adversaries  are  to  be  confounded ;  the  errors  of  false 
religious  systems  and  of  a  corrupted  Christianity  are 
to  be  exposed,  and  their  advocates  are  to  be  instructed 
and  guided  into  the  more  excellent  way  of  the  gospel. 
While  piety  is  undoubtedly  the  essential  and  most 
important  qualification  of  a  minister,  piety  alone  is 
not  suflicient. 

There  are  still  some  who  affect  to  despise  learning 
as  a  qualification  for  the  ministry,  and  who  quote  the 
example  of  the  Apostles  as  authorizing  unlettered  men 
to  exercise  that  office,  forgetting  that  they  were  faith- 
fully and  fully  educated  in  the  school  of  Christ  before 
they  received  their  commission  to  preach  the  gospel, 
yea,  after  they  had  been  with  him   and  enjoyed  his 


CH  AE  G  E.  53 

immediate  instructions  for  at  least  three  years ;  and 
when,  after  his  resurrection,  he  had  continued  with 
them  forty  days,  expounding  to  them  the  Scriptures, 
teaching  them  the  nature  of  his  kingdom,  and  the 
mysteries  ©f  his  religion,  he  enjoined  them  to  tarry 
at  Jerusalem  until  they  should  receive  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
and  they  did  wait,  and  did  receive  the  Spirit  according 
to  promise,  in  an  extraordinary  measure,  qualifying 
them  for  their  work.  As  men  do  not  now  enjoy  such 
advantages,  and  have  no  promise  of  being  prepared 
for  the  mi  istry  in  a  miraculous  manner,  they  must  by 
diligent  study  acquire  their  theological  knowledge, 
and  be  carefully  trained  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Church. 

3.  They  must  be  sound  in  the  faith,  and  must 
prepch  a  pure  gospel. 

The  importance  of  holding  fast  and  of  teaching  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  appears  from  the  nature  of  the 
case.  God  has  a  high  and  worthy  end  to  accomplish 
by  the  ministry,  even  the  manifestation  of  his  own 
glory  in  the  salvation  of  sinners.  He  has  appointed 
means  adapted  to  that  end;  the  nature  and  use  of 
which,  as  well  as  the  end  to  be  accomplished,  display 
in  an  eminent  and  peculiar  manner  his  glory;  are 
adapted  to  humble  the  pride  of  the  sinner,  and  to  form 
the  Christian  character.  These  means  are  the  teach- 
ing and  preaching  of  Christ  and  him  crucified ;  the 
gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  ;  holding  fast  and  holding 
forth  the  form  of  sound  words  given  by  inspiration. 


64  CHARGE. 

It  is  by  the  faithful  use  of  these  only,  that  God  is  made 
known  and  can  be  honoured,  and  that  the  sinner  can  be 
saved  ;  wherefore,  he  will  bless  no  other  means.  Not 
to  use  them,  or  to  pervert  them,  or  to  substitute  some- 
thing else  in  their  place,  though  it  may  be  professedly 
to  secure  the  same  end  and  be  called  another  gospel, 
is  inconceivably  criminal  in  the  sight  of  God  ;  being 
rebellion  against  him,  a  disregard  of  his  authority,  a 
misrepresentation  of  his  perfections ;  putting  a  slight 
upon  and  setting  aside  his  infinite  wisdom ;  robbing 
him  of  the  revenue  of  praise  which  would  be  brought 
to  him,  and  depriving  the  sinner  of  the  only  means  of 
salvation. 

That  radical,  spiritual,  and  entire  change  of  charac- 
ter, which  must  take  place  to  prepare  the  sinner  for 
heaven,  can  be  effected  through  the  knowledge,  belief 
and  obedience  of  the  truth  only.  As  it  is  in  the  na- 
tural w^orld — ^like  produces  like,  good  seed  produces 
good  plants,  and  good  trees  good  fruit — so  is  it  in 
the  moral  world ;  every  doctrine,  every  sentiment  and 
opinion,  of  a  practical  nature,  will  produce  its  like  in 
the  soul,  on  the  character,  and  in  the  life.  The  charac- 
ter will  answer  to  that  which  has  formed  it,  and  cor- 
respond to  the  principles  and  motives  of  action,  as  the 
impression  on  the  wax  answers  to  the  seal  by  which  it  is 
made.  Truth  will  produce  right  impressions,  right 
sentiments  and  dispositions,  and  correct  conduct;  er- 
ror, which  is  opposite  to  it,  must  produce  opposite  sen- 
timents and  conduct.     Hence,  we  may  to  some  extent 


CHARGE.  65 

judge  in  advance  of  the  character  of  men,  from  the 
doctrines  they  believe. 

Truth  is  also  represented  as  the  proper  aliment  of 
the  soul.  The  mind  is  to  be  stayed  and  strengthened 
by  it.  The  spirit  is  to  be  refreshed  and  nourished  by 
it,  as  the  body  is  nourished  with  wholesome  food.  The 
believer  through  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  increases 
with  the  increase  of  God ;  becomes  stronger  and 
stronger,  and  grows  into  the  likeness  of  Christ ;  nor 
can  the  same  effect  be  produced  by  poison,  that  is  by 
error  ministered  to  him.  God  must  be  apprehended 
as  he  is,  that  he  may  be  adored  and  confided  in. 
The  sinner  must  know  himself  in  his  true  state  and 
character,  that  he  may  be  humbled  and  renounce  all 
self-confidence.  He  must  apprehend  the  way  of  justi- 
fication through  Christ,  or  he  can  never  receive  for- 
giveness, peace,  and  eternal  life.  He  must  know  the 
Saviour  in  the  constitution  of  his  person,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  his  offices  and  in  his  work,  or  he  cannot  have 
him  made  unto  him  of  God,  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanc- 
tification,  and  redemption.  Obvious  as  all  this  appears 
to  us,  and  although  the  Scriptures  teach  us  that  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth  is  essential  to  salvation  and  to 
our  happiness  ;  though  they  exhort  us  to  buy  the  truth 
and  sell  it  not,  also  msdom,  instruction,  and  under- 
standing, and  caution  us  in  the  most  solemn  manner 
against  error  and  the  teachers  of  error,  the  importance 
of  it  is  not  realized. 
,^     This  subject  is  one,  concerning  which  there  pre- 


56  C  H  A  E  GE. 

vails  an  alarming  and  most  criminal  indifference.  We 
are  told  that  it  is  of  little  importance  wliat  we  believe ; 
tliat  there  are  good  people  of  all  creeds  ;  that  ignorance 
respecting  many  truths,  abont  which  there  is  such  a 
diversity  of  sentiment,  cannot  be  a  bar  to  salvation ; 
that  if  the  heart  is  only  right  and  the  intention  good, 
no  questions  will  be  asked  about  our  faith.  Thus, 
mixing  some  truth  with  error,  and  confounding  creeds 
with  names  or  different  denominations,  many  are  mis- 
led, and  induced  by  those  commonplace  observations 
to  pride  themselves  upon  their  superior  liberality  and 
charity.  It  is,  as  we  readily  admit,  a  matter  of  small 
moment  by  what  name  we  may  be  called.  There  are 
pious,  faithful,  and  happy  servants  of  God  among  all 
Christian  denominations  ;  but  these  all  hold  the  same 
form  of  sound  words.  They  all  believe  substantially 
the  same  doctrines.  They  all  pray  to  the  same  God ; 
have  access  by  the  same  Spirit  to  the  same  Father, 
through  the  same  Mediator,  and  obey  his  command- 
ments and  observe  his  ordinances.  They,  being  many, 
are  one  in  Christ  and  members  one  of  another. 

As  to  the  goodness  of  heart  and  intention,  we 
all  know  that  God  looketh  on  the  heart,  and  requireth 
truth  in  the  inward  man.  If  the  heart  be  right  with 
God ;  if  the  prevalent  desire  and  aim  be  to  the  Lord ; 
if  the  habitual  intention  be  to  please  and  honour  God 
in  aU  things,  the  life  wiU  be  consistent ;  and  it  will  be  the 
evidence  that  the  person  has  been  accepted  and  saved 
through  Christ,  and  has  received  a  new  heart  and  a  right 


CHARGE.  57 

spirit ;  and  no  one  will  be  more  willing  and  ready  to 
acknowledge  the  natural  deceitfulness  and  wickedness 
of  his  heart,  that  in  his  flesh  there  dwells  no  good  thing, 
and  that  the  present  changed  state  of  his  heart  has  been 
produced  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  through  the  knowledge 
and  belief  of  the  truth,  than  he  himself.  But  the  heart 
cannot  be  right,  the  intention  cannot  be  upright,  with- 
out correct  views  of  God  in  Christ,  and  of  the  system 
of  truth  taught  in  the  Bible.  Can  the  heart  of  that 
sinner  be  right,  who  regards  the  Supreme  Being  as 
too  merciful  to  punish  sin?  Does  he  honour  God, 
who  makes  him  like  himself,  and  who  denies  his  justice 
and  his  providence  ?  Will  his  religion  be  the  same, 
his  obedience  just  as  strict  and  acceptable,  and  his  life 
as  holy,  as  though  he  believed  in  an  essentially  holy 
God,  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity,  and 
cannot  look  upon  sin ;  in  a  God  at  hand,  who  work- 
eth  all  thino^s  accordino^  to  the  counsel  of  his  own  will, 
and  numbers  the  very  hairs  of  our  head  ?  Can  his  heart 
be  right,  can  he  be  humble,  and  feel  his  indebtedness  to 
the  grace  of  God,  who  thinks  that  human  nature  has 
received  very  little  injury  from  the  fall ;  that  man's 
dispositions  are  naturally  good,  though  they  may  be 
corrupted  by  example ;  that  by  proper  culture  of  the 
natural  powers  he  may  commend  himself  to  the  favour 
of  God,  and  secure  for  himself  happiness  beyond  the 
grave  ?  Can  he  feel  the  same  anxiety  about  his  state ; 
be  as  importunate  in  prayer,  and  as  careful  to  avoid 
sin,  as  though  he  believed  himself  to  be  lost  and  help- 


m 


CHARGE 


less,  and  felt  tliat  unless  lie  can  obtain  mercy  lie  must 
perisli ;  and  tliat  if  God  does  not  save  him  and  cliange 
Ms  lieart,  lie  cannot  be  saved  ?  Can  liis  lieart  be  riglit 
with  God,  who  rejects  his  only  begotten  and  well  be- 
loved Son  as  a  Saviour,  and  degrades  him  to  the 
condition  of  a  mere  man  ?  Can  he  have  access  to  God, 
or  know  the  Father,  who  does  not  know  the  Son, 
nor  acknowledge  him  as  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life ;  who  sets  aside  his  atonement,  his  merits  and 
intercession,  and  the  mission  by  him  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ? 
Can  he  have  as  good  a  hope,  and  feel  as  grateful  for 
it ;  will  he  be  just  as  devout,  have  as  intimate  com- 
munion with  God,  as  much  peace  and  joy,  be  as  safe 
in  the  judgment  and  as  happy  throughout  eternity,  as 
though  he  did  believe  that  the  name  of  Jesus  was  the 
only  name  given  under  heaven  among  men  whereby 
we  can  be  saved ;  that  he  is  able  to  save  to  the  utter- 
most all  that  come  unto  God  by  him,  having  been 
made  perfect  through  suffering,  and  being  God  al- 
mighty, God  all-sufficient  ?  But  we  need  not  further  il- 
lustrate the  absurdity  of  this  popular  sentiment.  The 
truth  of  God  has  been  revealed,  may  be  discovered, 
being  distinguished  by  certain  infallible  marks,  and 
must  be  believed  by  us,  that  by  its  influence  on  the 
soul,  through  the  operation  of  the  Spirit,  we  may  be 
healed  of  all  our  spiritual  maladies. 

Now,  from  all  this  we  may  learn  the  importance  of 
such  a  ministry,  and  the  obligation  resting  upon  the 
Church  to  furnish  it ;  and  also  the  high  and  fearful 


C  H  A  E  G  E  .  59 

responsibility  of  those  wlio  may  be  more  immediately 
charged  with  the  duty  of  training  and  preparing  men 
for  it.  For  whilst  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  pre- 
rogative of  God  to  raise  up  and  qualify  men  for  the 
ministry,  he  has  at  the  same  time  enjoined  it  as  a 
duty  on  the  Church  to  pray  to  him,  as  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest,  to  send  forth  labourers  into  his  harvest; 
which  prayer  includes  in  it  the  duty  which  is  else- 
where expressly  required,  of  seeking  out,  of  training 
and  watching  over  faithful  men,  who  may  teach  others 
also,  and  enter  the  fields  which  are  white  to  the  har- 
vest. And  if  men  are  to  be  taught,  and  proved,  and 
carefully  prepared  for  the  ministry,  it  can  be  done 
more  effectually,  and  in  a  shorter  time,  at  a  public 
school  of  the  prophets  like  this,  in  which  a  number  of 
teachers  may  devote  their  whole  time  to  their  instruc- 
tion, and,  by  a  division  of  labour,  attend  more  tho- 
roughly to  the  different  branches  of  their  education, 
than  in  private  by  a  single  pastor,  whose  ministerial 
duties  and  domestic  avocations  engross  the  largest 
portion  of  his  time.  If  there  has  been  disappointment 
experienced  by  the  churches,  as  to  the  standard  of 
ministerial  excellence  and  qualifications  in  young  men 
educated  at  Theological  Seminaries,  it  surely  has  not 
arisen  from  the  greatly  increased  means  of  instruction 
furnished  by  them,  nor  from  the  peculiar  advantages 
of  social  and  religious  intercourse  enjoyed  in  them.  We 
should  rather  look  for  the  cause  in  the  lack  of  talent 
and  application  in  the  candidates,  or  in  the  short  time 


60  CHARGE. 

spent  at  tlie  seminaries  ;  the  hurned  manner  in  which 
the  course  of  instruction  is  in  some  instances  neces- 
sarily passed  over;  and  also  in  the  change  of  taste 
among  the  people,  and  their  advancement  in  know- 
ledge. Who  does  not  know  that  the  churches  and 
congregations  of  this  land  require  discourses  of  a  far 
higher  order  than  those  which  satisfied  their  fathers  ; 
and  at  the  same  time  demand  a  vast  increase  of  minis- 
terial labour  in  fostering  and  sustaining  benevolent  in- 
stitutions, and  thus  abridge  the  pastor's  hours  of 
study  ?  But  we  need  not  stop  to  argue  the  question, 
whether  in  the  present  state  of  the  Church  and  of  so- 
ciety, and  in  \T[ew  of  the  pressing  demand  for  minis- 
ters, we  require  Theological  Seminaries.  Our  Church 
has  long  since  decided  the  question;  and  her  expe- 
rience, with  the  blessing  of  God  upon  her  efforts,  to 
furnish  what  she  has  judged  the  best  means  of  a 
religious  and  Christian  education  for  those  who  are 
seeking  the  ministry,  has  proved  the  wisdom  of  her 
decision.  Who  can  estimate  the  influence  for  good, 
the  salutary,  conservative,  and  sa^^ng  influence,  which 
this  Seminary  has  been  permitted  to  exert  during 
the  brief  period  of  its  operations  ?  What  would  have 
been  the  condition  of  our  Church  without  it  ?  Would 
the  same  number  of  men  have  reached  the  ministry, 
or  could  they  have  entered  on  their  labours  as  soon, 
and  with  equal  qualifications  ;  could  we  have  had  as 
much  union  in  the  truth,  unity  of  the  Spirit,  and  uni- 
formity, which,  when  it  is  according   to   the  Scrip- 


CH  AEGE.  61 

tures,  contributes  so  mucli  to  the  strength,  com- 
fort, and  edification  of  the  churches ;  could  we  have 
secured  as  great  a  degree  of  Christian  harmony  and 
communion  among  our  j)eople  ;  could  the  demand 
for  pious,  intelligent,  and  faithful  ministers  at  home 
among  our  own  teeming  population,  and  at  our  mis- 
sionary posts  among  the  heathen,  have  been  met  to 
the  extent  of  even  the  present  partial  supply ;  could 
we  have  realized  the  incidental  advantages,  those  salu- 
tary and  precious  influences  which  have  been  exerted 
by  the  Professors  through  their  writings,  and  which 
are  enjoyed  by  the  Church  universal,  if  this  Seminary 
had  not  been  established  ?  We  think  not ;  and  there- 
fore, whilst  we  feel  thankful  for  what  has  been  done, 
we  would  regard  it  as  an  earnest  only  of  what  may 
still,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  be  accomplished  through 
its  instrumentality. 

You,  my  dear  brother,  have  been  caEed  in  Provi- 
dence to  take  a  part  in  the  labour  of  sustaining  the 
reputation,  of  adding,  if  possible,  to  the  increasing 
importance  and  usefulness  of  this  institution,  and  of 
aiding  in  the  preparation  of  such  a  ministry  as  I  have 
endeavoured  to  describe,  and  as  was  contemj^lated  by 
the  founders  of  our  Seminary.  The  Church  has  expressed 
her  confidence  in  you,  as  one  qualified  to  be  a  teacher 
of  those  who  are  to  be  her  ministers.  A  higher  honom' 
could  not  have  been  conferred — a  place  of  greater  re- 
sponsibility cannot  be  occupied.  Allow  me  to  con- 
gratulate you  on  the  event,  more  especially  under  the 


62  CH  AEGE. 

peculiar  and  beautifully  interesting  circumstances  of 
your  introduction  to  this  field  of  labour,  having  for 
your  coadjutors  a  venerated  father  and  a  beloved  bro- 
ther. Had  you  been  left  to  your  own  choice,  you  could 
not  have  brought  yourself  into  a  more  delightful  em- 
ployment, or  a  more  desirable  and  pleasant  copartner- 
ship in  labour.  As  you  have  accepted  and  been  regu- 
larly inducted  into  this  office,  it  has  been  made  my 
duty,  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  Church 
which  has  appointed  you  thereto,  and  in  behalf  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  this  Seminary,  solemnly  to 
charge  you  to  be  faithful  to  the  trust  committed  to  you 
in  this  new  relation.  I  do  this  the  more  willingly  and 
frankly,  because  I  can  do  it  without  any  feeling  of  sus- 
picion or  apprehension,  and  because  I  know  the  im- 
portance of  the  work  is  felt  by  no  one  more  sensibly 
than  by  yourself;  that  the  interests  of  the  Seminary 
are  as  dear  to  you  as  they  are  to  us  ;  and  the  doctrines 
which  we  desire  to  be  taught  are  those  which  you  love, 
and  have  publicly  and  repeatedly  professed.  We  charge 
you,  therefore,  to  continue  of  the  same  mind  ;  hold  fast 
the  form  of  sound  words  which  you  have  received,  and 
teach  none  other  things  than  such  as  are  contained  in  it, 
or  are  consistent  with  it.  Although  in  your  immediate 
department  you  are  not  required  to  give  direct  instruc- 
tion in  the  doctrinal  truths  of  the  Bible,  yet  in  tracing 
the  evidence  of  God's  goodness  and  faithfulness  in  the 
history  of  his  Church,  and  of  the  tendency  to  apostasy 
in  man,  you  will  be  called  to  notice  those  errors  which 


CH  AEGE.  63 

have  marred  her  beauty,  disturbed  her  peace,  and  re- 
tarded her  progress,  and  will  have  an  opportunity  of 
refuting  them,  and  of  guarding  the  youth  under  your 
care  against  them.  Certain  it  is,  that  those  who  are 
left  to  fall  into  error,  do  and  will  find  occasions  to 
teach  it  in  every  department.  We  therefore  feel  it  to  be 
essential  to  the  good  character  and  welfare  of  the  Institu- 
tion, and  to  the  safety  of  the  students,  that  all  our  pro- 
fessors and  teachers  should  be  sound  in  the  faith.  Espe- 
cially is  it  required  of  you  to  teach  clearly,  explicitly, 
and  strongly,  the  true  nature,  the  scriptural  organiza- 
tion, government,  and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  God. 
The  department  of  Church  History  and  Church  Gov- 
ernment, always  important,  is  peculiarly  so  in  the  pre- 
sent day ;  when  we  are  in  danger  of  losing  our  minis- 
terial character  and  our  church  standing,  when  we 
are  denied  our  privileges  as  Christians,  by  those  who 
maintain  that  the  validity  and  efficacy  of  religious 
ordinances  depend  upon  an  invisible  and  imaginary  in- 
fluence communicated  by  a  broken  chain  containing  as 
all  acknowledge  many  corrupt  links,  reaching  back  as 
is  supposed  to  an  earthly  head,  iastead  of  the  author- 
ity of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  promised  influences  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  These  men  would  cover  up  our  title 
deed  from  the  great  Supreme  and  only  Head  of  the 
Church,  with  rubbish  gathered  from  the  fathers  and 
ancient  authors.  The  old  preposterous  and  exclusive 
claims  of  the  Man  of  Sin  are  again  to  be  refuted.  The 
old  controversy  respecting  the  religion  of  sacraments, 


64  CHARGE. 

having  been  revived  with  fresh  pretensions,  must  be  en- 
gaged in  and  settled  over  again.  The  contest  for  eccle- 
siastical despotism  and  domination  must  again  be  re- 
sisted, but  all  with  spiiituab  weapons.  Bring  to  light 
all  that  the  Bible  and  that  history  teach  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  so  instruct  the  youth  under  your  care,  that 
they  may  be  able  to  not  only  resist  for  themselves,  all 
temptations  to  embrace  the  fooleries  of  Popery  in 
every  form,  but  also  instrumentally  to  deliver  others 
out  of  them. 

I  need  not  remind  you  of  the  importance  of  taking 
heed  to  yourself  In  proportion  to  the  responsibility 
of  your  office  as  a  teacher  here,  is  the  obligation  on 
you  to  maintain  an  humble,  a  close,  and  an  intimate 
walk  with  God.  You  need  his  grace  and  strength  to 
enable  you  to  discharge  your  arduous  duties,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  set  an  example  of  diligence  and  pru- 
dence, of  watchfulness  and  prayer,  of  self-denial  and 
devotedness,  of  meekness,  gentleness,  patience,  perse- 
verance, and  love,  which  may  be  safely  followed  by 
those  whom  you  instruct.  It  is  your  happiness  to  know, 
from  past  experience,  the  answer  to  the  question.  Who 
is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?  and  also,  how  your  soul 
may  be  kept  prosperous  and  in  health.  Abide  in 
that  heaven-born  knowledge,  and  cultivate  that  pre- 
cious experience.  Thou,  that  teachest  others,  do  not 
forget  to  teach  thyself  The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with 
them  that  fear  him,  and  he  will  show  them  his  cove- 
nant.    Them  that  honour  me,  I  will  honour,  saith  the 


CHARGE.  65 

Lord.  We  know  that  tliey  only  are  safe  whom  he 
keeps.  The  melancholy  instances  of  backsliding,  of 
falling  into  sin  and  of  apostasy,  on  the  part  of  some 
who  once  stood  high  in  the  confidence  of  the  Church, 
stand  out  in  her  history  as  beacons,  giving  us  solemn 
warning,  not  to  be  high-minded,  but  to  fear.  Let  him 
that  thinketh  he  standeth,  take  heed  lest  he  fall,  for  it 
is  not  in  man  that  walketh,  to  direct  his  steps.  Men  of 
talent  and  learning  appear  to  be  more  in  danger  than 
others  of  falling  into  error.  They  are  tempted  to  specu- 
late upon  and  about  the  truth,  to  indulge  in  self-confidence 
and  pride  of  erudition.  They  attempt  to  be  wise  above 
revelation,  to  pry  into  the  secret  things  of  God.  Aiming 
at  new  discoveries  in  theology,  they  torture  the  sacred 
text;  by  ingenious  and  plausible  criticisms,  adopt  a 
forced  construction  which  may  countenance  their  bold 
and  presumj^tuous  conjectures,  and  thus  ofiend  God. 
They  are  wise  in  their  own  conceit,  forget  to  pray,  and 
indulge  in  a  haughty  spirit.  God  resisteth  the  proud, 
and  as  a  punishment  for  their  refusing  with  an  humble 
and  childlike  spirit  to  believe  the  truth  on  his  author- 
ity, he  gives  them  up  to  strong  delusions  that  they 
should  believe  a  lie.  In  no  other  way  can  we  account 
for  the  lengths  in  error  and  absurdity  to  which  some 
men  of  gigantic  intellect  and  of  the  greatest  learning 
have  been  left  to  go. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  humble,  the  meek,  those 
who  are  willing  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  Christ  and  learn 
of  him,  and  are  prepared  to  receive  the  kingdom  of 

5 


6(!>  CHARGE. 

God  as  little  cliildren — have  tlie  promise  of  his  grace, 
of  his  teaching,  guidance,  and  preservation  unto  life 
everlasting.  And  now  we  commend  you  to  God,  who 
is  able  to  keep  you  from  falling,  and  to  present  you 
faultless  before  the  presence  of  his  glory  with  exceed- 
ing joy  ;  and  to  the  word  of  his  grace  which  is  able  to 
build  you  up,  and  to  give  you  an  inheritance  among 
all  them  which  are  justified ;  praying  that  he  would 
make  you  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will, 
working  in  you  that  which  is  well  pleasing  in  his  sight 
through  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  the  glory  for  ever 
and  ever.     Amen. 


€iit  f  nkB  nf  (Cjjiirr|j  listnnj  tn  l^t  (Eti^nlnginn  nf  nnr  Bntj. 


AN    INAUGURAL    DISCOURSE 


JAMES  W.  ALEXANDER,  D.  D., 

PROFESSOR    OF    ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY    AND    CHURCH    GOVERNMENT,   IN   THE 
THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY    AT    PRINCETON. 


INAUGURAL    DISCOURSE 


Keveeend  Directors  of  the  Theological  Seminary, 
Reverend  Ministers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
Christian  Brethren  of  every  name,  who  here  afford 
us  your  countenance,  and  gladden  this  occasion  by 
your  presence  ;  I  should  meet  you  with  less  of  sadness, 
were  it  not  for  the  absence  of  that  venerable  man, 
whose  induction  to  this  chair  I  distinctly  remember 
six-and-thirty  years  ago,  whose  paternal  guidance  many 
of  us  have  since  enjoyed,  and  whose  useful  and  eniinent 
discharge  of  this  function  might  well  cause  trembling 
in  his  successor.  Let  us  therefore  hasten  to  look  away 
from  men,  even  the  best,  to  the  Great  Head  of  the 
Church,  who  will  bless  both  his  aged  servant  and  this 
school  to  which  his  life  has  been  devoted  * 

The  usage  which  convokes  this  respected  auditory, 
at  the  same  time  enjoins  on  the  speaker  a  topic  which 
shall  not  be  alien  from  the  work  to  which  you  have 
called  him  from  the  delightful  labours  of  a  beloved 

*  The  Rev.  Samuel  Miller,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Ecclesi- 
astical History  and  Church  Government,  departed  this  life  while  these  sheets 
were  in  the  press,  to  wit,  on  the  8th  day  of  January,  1850. 


YO  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

congregation.  Give  me  tlien  your  favourable  ear,  wliile 
I  attempt  to  set  forth  the  Value  of  Church  History 
TO  the  Theologian  of  our  Day. 

I.  The  value  of  Church  History  might  be  argued 

from  ITS  GENERAL    CONTENTS. 

There  is  in  the  matter  of  Church  History  an  in- 
trinsic value,  which  is  the  basis  of  all  its  importance 
to  any  class  of  minds.  As  a  record  of  facts,  history 
is  a  record  of  what  God  our  Creator  and  Eedeemer 
has  seen  fit  to  bring  into  existence  in  the  course  of  his 
providence ;  and  therefore  a  record,  in  part,  of  God's 
manifest  glory,  in  his  conduct  of  human  affairs :  this 
indeed  is  the  truest  notion  of  all  history.  For  it  is  this 
reference  of  all  that  takes  place  in  time  to  the  will  of 
God,  which  gives  unity  to  the  otherwise  disjointed 
annals  of  our  race.  More  specially.  Church  History  is 
the  record  of  God  our  Saviour,  in  the  unfolding  of  the 
method  of  grace  ;  and  is  thus  a  history  dear  to  Christ 
himself,  as  being  that  of  the  Church,  which  is  his  body, 
to  which  he  is  united,  and  also  the  history  of  what  the 
adorable  Spirit  of  Christ  is  doing,  in  regenerating  and 
compacting  and  glorifying  the  elect  people.  It  may  even 
be  called  the  history  of  mankind,  as  it  is  the  history  of 
that  portion  of  mankind,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
of  the  world,  which  God  has  chosen  to  be  the  depositary 
of  his  grace,  together  with  all  that  portion,  adjacent  to 
every  part  of  the  series,  which  has  a  visible  though  im- 
perfect connection  with  the  development  of  the  spiritual 
work. 


INAUGUKAL     DISCOURSE.  71 

The  interest  wliicli  a  human  mind  should  take  in 
such  a  record  is  to  be  measured  by  the  value  of  God's 
manifestation  of  himself;  which  is  so  far  from  being 
by  naked  propositions,  even  of  fundamental  truth,  that 
it  is  chiefly  by  life  and  act.  The  acts  of  free  creatures, 
which  accomplish  God's  plan  and  reveal  his  attributes, 
are  a  part  of  the  manifestation  of  God.  This  estimate 
of  history  at  large  is  applicable  with  peculiar  force  to 
the  history  of  the  dispensation  of  grace  and  the  growth 
of  the  Church.  Hence  it  is  remarkable,  that  of  the 
sacred  books  which  make  up  our  only  rule  of  faith  and 
life,  a  remarkable  number  consists  of  histories  of  the 
Church.  It  is  true  of  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  the 
New ;  and  though  when  we  have  journeyed  to  the  close 
of  this  period  our  hand  must  drop  the  clew  of  pro- 
phets and  apostles,  neither  the  Church  nor  its  history 
ceases,  but  runs  on  to  our  own  day,  and  will  run  on  to 
the  time  of  the  restitution  of  all  things.  It  would  be 
strange  if  the  unfolding  of  a  providence,  so  wonderful 
in  that  part  of  the  progress  which  inspiration  reveals, 
should  just  there  cease  to  be  of  value ;  passing  strange, 
if  while  invited  to  adore  a  God  who  wrought  mightily 
and  graciously  in  the  era  of  the  Apostles,  we  were  for- 
bidden to  trace  his  footsteps  of  grace  in  the  ages  that 
approximate  his  return.  Every  principle,  on  which 
we  judge  the  histories  of  the  Bible  important  objects 
of  inquiry,  goes  to  prove  the  importance  of  subsequent 
annals  of  Christ's  Church,  even  though  we  admit  our 
infinite  loss  in  parting  with  a  divine  historian.     Such 


72  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

are  tlie  reasons  wliy  vre  may  in  general  hold  ecclesiasti- 
cal history  to  be  valuable  to  the  Christian  of  every  age. 
II.  But  we  must  go  further,  and  look  at  Church 
History  in  its  connection  with  the  most  glorious  of  all 
intellectual  objects,  namely,  the  truth  of  God.  It  is 
a  record,  not  of  bare  events,  though  of  these  it  has  its 
abundance,  but  of  the  progress  of  revealed  knowledge. 
Here  our  topic  is  nothing  less  than  the  perpetual 
struggle  of  truth  against  error.  Revealed  theology, 
though  from  its  nature  infinitely  pure  and  absolutely 
and  unalterably  perfect,  admitting  of  no  progress  with- 
in itself,  is  nevertheless  constantly  modified  by  the 
condition  of  the  recipient,  is  constantly  suffering  op- 
position, is  tending  constantly  to  triumph,  is  occa- 
sionally undergoing  eclipse,  but  is  seen  finally  reigning 
in  divine  supremacy.  The  account  of  this  struggle  is 
vastly  more  stirring  than  the  report  of  courts  or  wars. 
The  Church  is  the  recipient  of  this  gradual  illumina- 
tion from  the  word.  Her  external  annals  are  but  the 
earthen  lamp  of  this  burning  luminary.  Leave  out  of 
Church  History  the  development  of  doctrinal  faith,  and 
you  reduce  it  to  the  most  meager  of  all  chronicles, 
though  you  fill  it  with  names  and  dates  and  schisms 
and  martyrdoms.  This  struggle  of  truth  for  mastery 
accompanies  us  through  every  part  of  the  career ;  and 
each  successive  hour  of  conquest  remains  as  a  memora- 
ble epoch.  For  example,  take  the  early  question  of 
Judaic  observance ;  the  Gnostic  and  the  Arian,  the  Nes- 
torian  the  Eutychian,  the   Pelagian  and  the  Socinian 


INAUGUEAL     DISCOURSE.  Y3 

periods.  In  each  instance,  there  was  a  formidable 
struggle  and  a  settlement :  for  though  all  did  not  concur 
in  any  case,  yet  the  struggle  had  reached  its  acme  and 
the  progress  went  on.  That  theologian  would  be  poor- 
ly furnished,  who  should  learn  the  points  of  absolute 
truth  only  thetically,  and  should  know  nothing  of  the 
successive  agonies  of  the  Church,  in  bringing  each  of 
these  tenets  to  its  due  and  scriptural  predominance : 
compared  with  such  mental  wrestlings,  the  feuds  of 
kings  and  of  nations  are  tame.  The  theologian  of  our 
day  needs  no  part  of  sacred  training  more  than  the 
history  of  doctrine,  as  unfolded  in  the  mind  of  the 
Church,  and  the  establishment  of  scriptural  truth 
over  the  resistance  of  falsehood.  The  monuments  of 
this  warfare  of  past  ages  exist  in  many  venerable 
shapes.  The  controversies  of  every  period  form  a  large 
part  of  sacred  authorship.  Every  symbol  or  creed 
marks  the  adjudication  of  a  case,  the  settlement  of  a 
quarrel,  the  triumph  of  a  doctrine  ;  and  the  pyramids 
are  not  more  solid  or  more  august  than  the  utterances 
of  Nicaea,  of  Augsburg,  of  Dort,  and  of  Westminster. 
The  history  even  of  errors  is  full  of  instruction  and 
interest ;  and  eminently  so  in  our  age  of  liberty,  when 
whosoever  will  may  glory  in  any,  even  the  most 
ancient  blunders.  On  no  other  supposition  but  that 
of  utter  strangeness  to  the  great  polemics  of  the 
Mcene  period,  and  the  exhaustive  analysis  and  ex- 
quisitely keen  nomenclature  of  the  Greek  defenders 
of  Trinitarian  truth,  can  we  account  for  the  assured 


74  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

simplicity  witli  whicli  obsolete  heresies,  witli  all  theii* 
obsolete  props,  are  this  moment  set  up  with  a  parade 
of  novelty  very  near  our  Church  borders:  it  is  worth 
the  time  even  of  reformers,  to  read  antiquity,  in 
order  to  learn  how  they  were  confuted  before  they 
were  born,  so  that  they  may  avoid  appearing  as  stage- 
heroes,  with  the  armour  and  watchwords  of  enemies 
dead  and  buried  a  thousand  years  ago. 

It  is  a  sound  reason  for  stjidjang  Church  History 
that  it  furnishes  caveats  against  the  errors  of  the  age. 
Marvellous  would  it  be  if  it  did  not ;  if  there  had  been 
hundreds  of  years  of  Christ's  government,  and  yet  no 
settlement  of  barriers.  I  know,  indeed,  that  we  live 
in  an  age  of  progress  and  development,  and  that  these 
phrases  are  dinned  into  the  ears  of  our  very  babes  at 
school;  but  marvellous  would  be  that  progress  and 
development,  which  should  show  no  progress  in  quieting 
absurdity  and  no  development  of  abiding  truth.  There 
is  a  real  progress  in  Christianity,  which  is  like  the  pro- 
gress of  human  science,  in  this  respect,  that  its  stages 
are  marked  by  fixed  points.  Our  age  forgets  this. 
Ptolemy  and  Tycho  Brahe  are  no  longer  brought  out 
to  be  slain  afresh  ;  but  Sabellius  and  Eutyches  live  and 
expire  again  for  each  successive  generation.  Let  us 
be  consistent  with  ourselves.  If  experience  ever 
teaches,  it  may  teach  communities,  and  if  communities, 
then  the  Church,  which  is  the  only  undying  commu- 
nity, the  only  community  in  which  Christ  dwells.  The 
men  of  our  age  need  to  know  what  Christ  has  been 


INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE.  ^5 

doing  in  foregoing  ages,  in  this  school  of  his,  which  is 
always  learning ;  sometimes  by  bitter  lessons,  yet  al- 
ways learning.  Few  are  hardy  enough  to  stand  up 
and  deny  that  there  is  an  experience  of  the  Church, 
yet  many  do  so  constructively,  by  banishing  all  the 
history  which  details  this  experience  into  a  corner. 
This  is  to  be  lamented,  because  pious  and  zealous  men, 
by  \news  so  narrow,  do  just  so  much  to  prolong  con- 
troversies and  to  break  down  providential  dikes 
against  error. 

If  it  is  asked,  how  acquaintance  with  the  struggles 
of  truth  in  former  days  aids  us  in  the  struggle  of  our 
own,  it  might  suffice  to  reply,  just  as  the  modern 
art  of  war  is  the  result  of  the  strategy  of  all  time. 
But,  more  particularly,  let  it  be  observed  by  the  theo- 
logian of  our  day,  that  error  is  not  so  original  as  it 
vaunts  itself  to  be.  The  human  mind  is  limited  in  its 
very  vagaries.  The  enemy  of  souls,  with  all  his 
sleight,  has  but  a  certain  number  of  cards  in  his  pack. 
The  same  heresies  appear  and  reappear,  after  centu- 
ries, as  if  in  cycles.  The  vulgar  Universalism  of  our 
day,  in  all  its  forms,  is  depicted  in  Augustine's  "  City 
of  God."  What  is  called  Transcendentalism,  fresh  as  it 
looks  to  novices,  shows  not  unlike  certain  visions  of 
the  schoolmen.  The  Gorgon  of  Gnosticism  glares  on 
us  through  the  grinning  visor  of  the  modern  Pan- 
theist ;  and  in  the  Gnostic  himself,  recent  research  has 
detected  the  family  resemblance  of  the  Budhist  and 
the  Parsee.     Serpentine  Pelagianism,  though  trampled 


76  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

on  by  Catholic  decisions,  was  not  killed,  and  among 
Protestants  as  well  as  Papists  has  crawled  in  again, 
wherever  a  door  was  left  ajar.  It  is  something  gained 
to  nail  an  error  to  the  board,  that  onr  children  may 
know  it  when  it  reappears  in  the  currency.  History 
shows  ns,  not  only  that  errors  are  the  same,  but  that 
errorists  traverse  the  same  lines.  Whosoever  has 
risked  the  dread  responsibility  of  unsettling  the  com- 
mon faith  of  evangelical  Christendom,  has  always  run, 
though  he  knew  it  not,  in  the  old  doublings ;  so  that 
one  may  predict  that  a  denier  of  the  Trinity,  or  a 
denier  of  grace,  will  describe  a  given  curve.  For 
example,  he  will  decry  all  former  conclusions ;  he 
will  expunge  all  human,  that  is,  symbolical  phrases, 
which  define  truth  as  against  his  own  errors  ;  he  will 
plead  for  the  very  words  of  Scripture  text,  which  he 
evacuates  of  their  meaning ;  he  will  shun  categorical 
statement ;  he  Tvdll  sing  of  charity,  and  stretch  implor- 
ing arms  towards  every  latitudinary  sect. 

The  mode  in  which  theological  error  has  diffused 
itself  has  been  strikingly  the  same.  In  regard  to  this 
the  humble  student  learns  to  be  on  his  guard  against 
the  beginnings.  He  further  reads  that  God's  method 
of  gracious  deliverance  from  abounding  error  has  been 
much  the  same  in  all  ages,  by  the  effusion  of  his  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  raising  up  of  Augustines,  Luthers,  Cal- 
vins,  and  Edwardses,  at  the  instant  juncture  of  his 
grace.  And  the  student  of  history,  contemplating  the 
struggle,  beholds  for  his  encouragement,  that  the  tri- 


INAUGURAL    DISCOURSE.  77 

umpli  of  truth,  in  respect  to  the  portion  of  men 
through  whom  the  vital  succession  is  kept  up,  is  cer- 
tain. Such  is  but  a  sample  of  what  history  may  do  in 
regard  to  the  study  of  Christ's  truth. 

III.  But  our  subject  has  a  special  value  in  regard 

to  the  POLITY    OF   THE  ChURCH. 

It  is  not  we,  my  brethren,  who  have  made  all 
grace  dependent  on  the  outward  form  of  the  visible 
Church  ;  but  neither  our  fathers  nor  we  have  despised 
it :  and  seeking  in  Scripture  alone  for  the  model  of 
this  sanctuary,  we  have  been  taught  lessons  by  God's 
providence  in  the  diversified  shapes  it  has  taken  since 
primitive  times.  The  careful  reading  of  history  brings 
one  truth  at  least  into  high  relief,  to  wit,  that  the 
assumption  of  an  immutable  polity  and  rite  in  the 
hierarchical  bodies  is  without  a  basis  in  fact.  The 
beginnings  of  these  abuses,  like  all  others,  were  too 
minute  and  too  insidious  to  afibrd  means  of  fixing 
dates ;  yet  we  can  often  trace  the  gradations  of  church- 
power  from  its  youthful  modesty  to  its  imperial 
domination,  with  a  fulness  such  as  has  no  parallel  in 
any  genesis  of  civil  government. 

There  are  those  with  whom  the  Church  question  is 
the  question  of  questions.  It  was  always  so  with 
Rome ;  it  will  hereafter  be  so,  by  a  ludicrous  imita- 
tion, in  all  who  shall  affect  the  exclusive  prerogatives 
of  Rome.  Till  Rome  conquered,  this  was  an  interest 
shared  with  Constantinople ;  now  that  Rome  trem- 
bles, it  is  so  with  the  dead  churches  of  Asia,  and  those 


78  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

in   Western   lands,    who  have   no  true   notion    of  a 
church-essence  but  as  something  palpable.     In  history 
we  descry  not  only  the  examples   of  this,  but   the 
stealthy  encroachments  by  which  the  simple  primitive 
structure  grew  into  the  present  hideous  colossal  mass. 
Here,  likewise,  we  fix  the  moments  at  which,  from  age 
to  age,  it  has  been  thought  safe  to  suborn  ancient  wit- 
nesses, to  forge  donations  and  decretals,  and  to  trans- 
fer prescriptive  corruptions  to  a  pretended  apostolic 
basis ;  as  when,  with  Baronius,  we  discern  in  St.  Ste- 
phen an  archdeacon  ;  when  we  find  the  primacy  first 
propped  up  by  St.  Peter ;  when  we  detect  the  fabri- 
cated title-deeds  of  secular  Romish  power  ;  and  when 
we  begin  to  see  the  orders  of  the  more  venerable  con- 
tinental churches  disallowed  by  the  Romanizing  sons 
of  Anglican  Reformers,  for  lack  of  a  supposed  episco- 
pal succession.     Errors  respecting  polity  can  often  be 
instantly  set  aside  by  looking  into  their  pedigree.    It  is 
history,  as  the  guardian  of  truth,  that  uncovers  the 
sandy  foundation  of  hierarchy ;  teaches  us  where  to 
be  on  the  watch,  what  tendencies   to  rebuke,  what 
enemies  to  repel :  and  these  great  providential  lessons 
are  written  by  the  finger  of  God.     Before  the  student 
reads  antiquity,  he  may  meekly  receive  the  dictum, 
that  every  curtain  and  pin  of  the  tabernacle  he  be- 
holds reared  in  the  wilderness  of  the  middle  ages  was 
adjusted  precisely  thus  by  the  first  Christians :  such  is 
the  spirit  of  the  Romish  dogmas.     But  as  he  turns  his 
eye  to  the  pictured  canvass  of  ages,  as  it  passes  before 


INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE.  79 

him,  what  a  panorama  of  changing  scenes  !  What 
bubble  is  hollower  than  the  notion  of  an  apostolic 
unity  in  names,  functionaries,  human  connections,  rites, 
and  postures  !  But  it  is  not  enough  to  know  this  by 
hearsay :  the  teacher  of  our  day  needs  the  vivid  im- 
pression of  its  reality  as  derived  from  the  slow  pageant 
of  tyrannical  dignitaries  and  churchly  princes.  And 
thus  impressed,  he  comes  back  to  the  simple  truth  of 
the  New  Testament — if  I  may  borrow  a  figure  from 
Archdeacon  Hare — as  one  comes  from  the  stifling  at- 
mosphere of  an  Italian  church,  redolent  of  tapers,  in- 
cense, and  fuming  crowds,  to  the  blessed  fresh  air  of 
heaven.  Thus  emerging,  he  reads  with  new  eyes,  and 
more  thankful  heart,  the  divine  charter  of  Unity  in 
the  Church ;  that  there  is  one  body  and  one  Spirit, 
even  as  ye  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling ; 
one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father 
of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you 
all.  And  he  more  indignantly  than  ever  for  the  rest 
of  his  life  refuses  to  make  scriptural  unity  reside  in 
those  things  about  which,  above  all  others,  the  Scrip- 
tures are  silent.  Thus  the  study  of  history,  while  it 
reveals  daily  more  and  more  the  falsity  of  pretensions 
to  unbroken  lines  of  tradition,  as  to  men  or  rites,  and 
the  monstrousness  of  deviations  and  mutations  within 
the  pretended  circle  of  Catholic  unity,  compels  him, 
with  the  delight  of  a  bird  escaped  from  the  snare  of  the 
fowler,  to  find  all  his  repose  in  the  Church  of  the  Spirit 
and  the  Word.  Thus  studying  the  perishable  fortunes  of 


80  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

all  human  inventions,  lie  rises  to  tlie  truth  of  Christ,  the 
sole  Head,  Lawgiver,  and  King ;  herein  agreeing  with 
one  who  was  a  master  of  Christian  antiquity,  an  orna- 
ment of  Scottish  presbytery,  and  though  the  youngest, 
not  far  from  the  greatest,  in  the  Assembly  at  West- 
minster :  "  It  may  be  observed  from  the  story  of  His 
passion,  this  (his  kingship)  was  the  only  point  of  his 
accusation  which  was  confessed  and  avouched  by  him- 
self, was  most  aggravated,  prosecuted,  and  driven 
home  by  the  Jews,  was  prevalent  with  Pilate  as  the 
cause  of  condemning  him  to  die,  and  was  mentioned 
also  in  the  superscrij)tion  upon  his  cross." 

IV.  Church  History  is  valuable  to  the  Christian 
minister,  for  the  culture  it  affords  to  his  inward 

PIETY. 

It  is  true.  Christian  history  may  be  so  studied  as 
to  deaden  all  religion  within  us.  Of  the  histories  in 
use  among  us,  nothing  is  so  characteristic  as  their 
coldness.  One  might  read  them  carefully  without 
ever  finding  the  principal  thing.  For  what  is  the  in- 
timate and  essential  treasure  of  Christian  history,  and 
of  the  Church,  if  it  is  not  Christ's  religion,  or  the  life 
of  Grod  among  men  ?  Leave  this  out,  and  you  may 
have  prosperous  and  adverse  events,  creeds  and  can- 
ons, enlargements  and  contractions,  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies, developments  of  dogma,  and  suppression  of  heresy, 
but  these  are  as  cheerless  as  Egyptian  temples,  or 
sculptured  cenotaphs.  No  wonder  men  have  grown 
chilly  in  such  chambers  of  the  dead,  among  Church 


INAUGUKAL     DISCOURSE.  81 

annals  whicli  give  tliem  only  sepulchral  inscriptions. 
It  is  the  life  wliicli  once  dwelt  in  these  piles  after  which 
we  are  seeking  ;  and  the  search  cannot  be  nnedifying, 
for  this  is  God's  work  among  men.     If  the  work  of 
the  Spirit  in  a  single  soul  is  lovely,  wonderful,  more 
worthy  of  profound  study  than  the  marvels  of  material 
planets  and  suns,  how  much  more  the  work  of  the 
same  Spirit  in  thousands,  in  systems  of  souls,  in  the 
body  of  Christ!     What  a  partial  view   of  Christ's 
work  among  men  it  would  be  to  judge  only  those  his- 
tories of  grace  worth  knowing  which  occurred  before 
the  close  of  the  canon !     Each  individual's  spiritual 
life  is  a  microcosm,  and  the  operations  of  God  are 
as  varied  in  different  souls  as   in   different   crystals, 
flowers,  or  worlds.      Every  conversion  is  a  j)art   of 
Church  History.     Every  revival  is  a  little  system  of 
God's  working.     The  whole  organism  of  Divine  ope- 
rations from  beginning  to  end,  in  all  lands,  can  be 
studied  only  in  the  next  world ;  but  there  is  reason  to 
believe  it  vriYl  be  a  chief  study,  since  it  is  by  the 
Church  that  principalities  and   powers   in   heavenly 
places  know  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God.     To  pursue 
this  study  now  is  only  to  learn  more  of  that  effasion 
which  is   the   fruit   of  Christ's  death,   the   work   of 
Christ's  Spirit,  which  is  going  on  in  us,  and  in  all  the 
family  in  heaven  and  in  earth.     If  any  man's  religion 
is  such  as  to  be  damaged  by  conversing  with  holy 
biography  in  all  ages,  it  is  a  sign  that  his  religion 
is  factitious,  and  out  of  the  analogy  of  faith.      The 

6 


82  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

glory  of  Christ  sliines  with  boundless  variety  and 
riches  in  the  experience  of  the  Church ;  always  the 
same,  always  different ;  and  this  is  to  be  studied 
in  the  rich  coloured  texture  of  multiform  piety, 
in  all  its  individual  traits  ;  not  the  diaries  of  people  of 
our  own  canton  or  century,  but  the  widely  differing 
yet  brotherly  experience  of  Polycarps,  Wiclifs,  Me- 
lancthons,  Knoxes,  and  Simeons,  formed  by  the  same 
Spirit  in  circumstances  remote  from  ours.  The  growing 
persuasion  of  this  has  given  a  biographical  character 
to  the  Church  History  of  our  age,  and  there  is  no 
history  which  admits  of  being  presented  in  biographi- 
cal portraits  so  much  as  that  of  the  Church.  For 
Christianity  in  its  regard  for  the  humblest  unit  in  the 
Church  stands  equally  remote  from  both  extremes,  of 
absolute  centralizing  tyranny  and  infidel  communism, 
which  agree  to  swallow  up  the  individual  in  the  mass. 
And  as  Christ  deals  with  the  individual  soul,  his  new 
creature,  watching  over  its  birth  and  growth  with  match- 
less love,  so  Christ's  ministers  will  love  the  work  of 
their  Lord  in  the  graces  of  all  times,  and  hang  over  a 
single  instance,  as  of  Augustine  in  his  Confessions,  or 
of  Chalmers  in  his  Sabbath  hours,  as  fondly  as  the  bota- 
nist over  a  new  species,  or  the  chemist  over  a  new 
metal.  It  is  Christ's  handiwork ;  surely  we  shall  love 
and  study  the  marks  of  his  fingers.  But  time  is  short. 
We  cannot  stop  to  look  at  every  gem  in  his  cabinet, 
or  every  star  in  his  heaven  ;  we  must  deal  with  classes ; 
we  must  regard  the  development  of  single  provinces  ; 


INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE.  83 

and  the  lioly  lineaments  of  communities,  and  Christian 
nations,  through  successive  ages ;  and  this  is  Church 
History.  The  guiding  clew  throughout  the  whole  is 
the  line  of  uniform  spiritual  influence,  constantly  going 
on  in  every  member  of  the  body.  The  investigation 
of  these  laws  of  gracious  operation  in  actual  history, 
the  collation  of  them  with  the  authoritative  principles 
of  Scripture,  and  with  our  own  consciousness,  and  the 
adoring  sight  of  God's  ways  and  Christ's  image  in  the 
entire  body,  are  among  the  most  heavenly  employments 
of  our  pilgrimage.  If  active  duties  and  saci'ifices  did 
not  forbid,  one  might  be  willing  to  shut  himself  up  and 
study  the  work  of  grace  in  the  life  of  the  Church. 
And  the  want  of  these  catholic  views  of  the  work  of 
Christ  gives  a  mannerism  and  a  pedantry  and  a  pro- 
vincial narrowness  to  our  religion,  more  like  the  rigour 
of  Judaism  than  the  beautiful  liberty  of  that  Church, 
concerning  which  it  is  said,  "  there  are  diversities  of 
gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit." 

To  say  that  the  flow  of  such  a  vital  piety,  in  its 
remotest  circulation,  in  ancient  Persia  or  Gaul,  or  in 
modern  Greenland  or  Hawaii,  is  not  good  to  be 
studied,  good  for  the  preacher,  good  for  the  hearer, 
good  for  the  nurture  of  our  faith,  the  kindling  of  our 
devotion,  and  the  ordering  of  our  practice,  is  to  say 
that  we  have  believed  a  cunningly  devised  fable.  The 
experimental  Christianity  of  past  ages  will  sometimes 
bring  strongly  before  us  a  phase  of  piety  which  looks 
strange  in  modern  eyes,  as  contemplative,  nay  mystical ; 


84  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

yet  is  it  not  witliout  instruction  to  tlie  teachers  of  a 
generation  who  are  exposed  to  the  danger  not  only  of 
measuring  all  religion  by  the  quantity  of  motion,  but 
of  making  its  very  essence  reside  in  outward  acts. 
God  teaches  us  the  evil  of  two  extremes,  of  the  active 
and  the  contemplative  life,  in  events  of  unsurpassed 
greatness  and  vivid  hues,  and  this  teaching  is  Church 
History. 

Is  not  Christ  "  the  Head  of  every  man,"  the  head 
also  of  the  Church  ?  and  can  any  man  honour  him  and 
love  him,  and  yet  be  indifferent  to  his  vine,  his  turtle- 
dove, his  Bride,  his  Body,  for  which  he  covenanted, 
for  which  he  took  flesh,  for  which  he  died,  ascended, 
and  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  power ;  with  which 
he  is  indissolubly  joined;  in  which  he  lives  ;  whose  foes 
he  will  dash  to  pieces,  and  to  whom  he  will  give  the 
kingdom  and  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  king- 
dom under  the  whole  heaven  ?  Or  can  the  tidings  of 
such  a  community  be  hurtful  to  any  preacher's  soul  ? 
Is  Christ  indifferent  to  this  Church,  or  to  its  seasons  of 
light  and  shadow  ?  Is  it  not  his  "  vineyard  of  red  wine," 
which  he  keeps,  and  which  he  waters  every  moment  ? 
How  then  can  he  who  loves  Christ  be  indifferent 
to  this  body  ?  Though  it  is  invisible  in  its  greatness, 
its  parts  are  visible,  with  a  visibility  which  is  Christ- 
like ;  consisting  not  in  an  outward  chain  of  putative 
succession,  nor  in  ordination  by  certain  hands,  nor 
in  the  utterance  of  certain  formulas,  nor  in  wor- 
ship with  certain  rites,  nor  in  the  baptizing  with  cer- 


INAUGURAL     DISCOUESE.  85 

tain  ways  or  waters,  nor  in  absolute  agreement  about 
certain  jots  and  tittles ;  but  in  those  spii'itual,  lioly, 
divine,  and  therefore  catholic  notes  of  the  Church,  of 
which  Christ  makes  much,  and  of  which  Antichrist 
makes  nothing.  To  detect  the  products  of  this  secret 
life,  which  has  been  visibly  the  same  in  every  age,  to 
recognise  it,  to  trace  it,  to  love  it,  and  to  emulate  it, 
is  the  delightful  work  of  Church  History.  Here  are  the 
genuine  memorials  of  the  fathers ;  here  are  the  true  re- 
lics of  the  saints ;  not  to  be  registered  in  calendars  and 
graven  on  stone,  and  worshipped  as  idols,  but  to  be  fol- 
lowed, and  by  grace  surpassed.  If  experience  is 
valuable  in  our  own  hearts,  then  in  the  hearts  of  others ; 
if  in  what  is  contemporary,  then  in  what  is  past ; 
if  of  one  age,  then  of  all  ages.  The  diversity  is  in- 
finite of  God's  spiritual  operation  in  his  Church; 
and  heaven  will  make  this  more  obvious.  Next  to 
the  study  of  God's  work  in  Scripture,  is  the  study 
of  God's  work  in  the  later  Church ;  more  refresh- 
ing than  the  canons  of  councils  and  the  rolls  of  change- 
ful clergy,  and  the  politics  of  the  curia,  and  the  tactics 
of  scholastic  armies.  Here  is  Christ's  perpetual  work, 
always  beginning,  never  ending,  enriching  earth  and 
replenishing  heaven,  sealed  by  blood  of  martyrs,  and 
widely  unfolded  in  mighty  works  of  philanthropy, 
valour  and  humane  legislation,  of  which  the  honour, 
though  all  Christ's,  is  every  day  filched  by  the  plagi- 
arizing philosopher,  infidel,  and  economist.  To  be- 
hold this  work  multiplied  among  myriads  of  converted 


86  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

tribes,  nations,  and  races,  is  to  beliold  a  work  worthy 
of  God's  energy  and  worthy  of  our  honour ;  and  it  is 
the  subject  of  Church  History. 

V.  Church  History  is  valuable  to  the  ministry  from 
its  bearing  on  Evangelical  Missions. 

The  missionary  or  apostolic  character  of  the  Church 
was  impressed  on  its  very  beginnings,  even  from  the 
day  when  Christ  broke  in  upon  the  table  of  the  eleven, 
as  they  sat  together,  benumbed  with  doubt  and  won- 
der, as  to  the  report  of  his  resurrection,  and  upbraid- 
ed them,  and  added,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world."  The 
history  of  the  primitive  age  is  a  mission-history.  The 
torch  snatched  from  hand  to  hand  passed  to  the  con- 
fines of  the  known  world.  Singly  or  in  groups  the 
disciples  pierced  into  the  solid  masses  of  heathen- 
ism, and  left  their  footsteps  marked  with  blood.  This 
tendency  to  speed  from  the  centre  towards  the  circum- 
ference, is  so  far  essential  to  the  light  of  life,  that  we 
find  it,  even  long  after  clouds  of  error  had  arisen, 
working  wonders  in  ages  which  we  are  forced  to  deem 
grossly  corrupt.  So  that  it  is  wonderful  how  Chris- 
tians of  any  period  could  study  the  history  of  their 
fathers,  and  not  see  that  to  be  a  Christian  was  to  be  a 
missionary.  Volumes  might  be  filled  with  the  recital  of 
such  works  of  daring,  as  would  put  our  tardy  efforts 
to  shame,  showing  how  they  continued  to  regard  the 
Gospel  as  a  mystery  to  be  made  known  to  all  nations 
for  the  obedience  of  faith.  The  map  of  Christendom 
gives  the  lines  of  these  conquests.     All  that  is  now 


INAUaUEAL     DISCOUKSE.  Si 

nominally  Christian,  was  once  heathen.     The  limits  of 
the  titular  Church  extended  far  beyond  the  limits  of 
modern  Christianity ;  for  the  false  prophet  has  since 
appropriated  immense  tracts  that  were  once  evangeliz- 
ed ;  and  the  Arab  wanders  over  African  wastes,  that 
were   filled  with   thousands   of  churches.      How  few 
there   are   who   adequately   estimate   those   missions, 
which  could  result  in  such  dense  Christian  populations 
as  covered  what  are  now  the  wildernesses  of  Barca, 
Tunis,   and  Algiers.     Equally  vigorous  were   the  as- 
saults Eastward  in  Asia,  and  IN^orthward  and  West- 
ward among  the  Celtic  and  Germanic  tribes.  Can  it  be 
uninteresting  to  trace  the  steps  of  our  Redeemer  in 
these  ancient  missions,  which  during  many  centuries 
carried   forward   and   outward   the   frontiers  of    the 
Church  ?    But  it  is  our  history  which  marks  this  pro- 
gress ;  and  its  lessons  are  seasonable  and  momentous  ; 
good  for  every  Christian,  and  especially  good  for  the 
Christian  ministry  of  our  day.     It  teaches  us  how  truly 
Christian  faith  and  love  work  towards  the  evangeli- 
zing of  the  nations.     It  teaches  the  modern  missionary 
how  the  ancient  missionary  went  to  work,  in  circum- 
stances often  precisely  similar.     It  stimulates  to  a  holy 
emulation  of  zeal  and  self-sacrifice,   of  patience  and 
courage,  which  all  the  legends  of  martyrology  cannot 
altogether   discredit.      It  rebukes   the   coldness   and 
cowardice  of  our  age  of  commerce,  arts,  and  peace,  by 
the  struggle^  and  success  of  an  age  of  warfare  and  ig- 
norance.    It  brings  forth  the  tattered  manuscripts  of 


88  INAUGUEAL     DISCOURSE. 

Greek  and  Latin  apologies,  or  controversies  witli  hea- 
then, the  archetypes  of  defences  which  issue  from  mis- 
sion presses  among  Moollahs,  Bonzes,  and  Bramins.  It 
unrolls  to  us  the  early  endeavours  of  the  Justins  and 
the  Origens,  who  had  a  more  lordly  paganism  than  that 
of  our  day  to  trium]3h  over,  and  shows  us  that  by 
Christ's  grace  they  triumphed.  Next  to  the  books  of  in- 
spiration, which  are  so  largely  missionary  records,  the 
modern  apostle  has  no  such  source  of  instruction  and 
no  such  provocative  to  courage,  and  no  such  earnest 
of  conquest,  as  the  books  of  Church  History.  Nor  is 
it  to  be  doubted,  that  in  this  historic  age  of  ours,  just 
in  proportion  as  churches  become  missionary  churches, 
will  the  students  of  sacred  antiquity  labour  to  follow 
out  the  lines  of  that  great  progress,  which  made  the 
centuries  preceding  hierarchical  stupor  so  remarkable 
for  the  spread  of  truth.  For  be  it  remembered,  that 
the  Church  has  always  been  most  in  motion  when 
most  alive,  and  that  truth  preceded  error.  Those 
great  masses  of  Oriental  Christianity  which  are  now 
bereft  of  all  life,  and  retain  only  the  trappings  of  reli- 
gion and  imagery  of  the  Church,  resembling  in  their 
petrified  state  the  fossil  remains  of  a  former  period, 
still  serve  to  indicate  the  spots  and  the  times  in  which 
there  was  a  vigorous  vitality ;  and  this  vitality  was 
the  product  of  Christian  Missions.  The  very  saints, 
whose  graces  have  l)een  forgotten,  amidst  the  fables 
of  hagialogies  and  breviaries,  and  who  have  been  turn- 
ed into  the  demigods  of  a  new  Pantheon,  were  often 


INAUGUKAL     DISCOUESE.  89 

genuine  disciples,  and  evangelists  among  tlie  Gentiles. 
Wlien  we  study  to  sever  the  precious  from  tlie  vile, 
we  are  only  gaining  helps  for  the  missions  of  a  new 
era  now  dawning.  It  is  our  hope  and  prayer,  that  the 
day  may  never  return,  when  it  shall  be  thought  a  little 
thing  to  be  Christ's  missionary,  or  when  the  work 
of  lengthening  these  cords  shall  be  deemed  to  re- 
quire less  than  the  very  best  and  highest  that  the 
Church  has  of  scholarship,  eloquence,  and  grace.  To 
dispel  such  an  illusion,  we  have  only  to  read  aright 
the  annals  of  Church  History. 

If  this  illustration  should  seem  too  much  confined 
to  earlier  periods,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  line 
of  our  research  brings  us  down  to  that  great  revival 
of  religion,  which  we  name  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion ;  and  shows  us  how,  in  the  morning  watch,  the 
Lord  can  look  through  the  pillar  of  fire  and  of  the 
cloud,  and  trouble  the  host  of  the  Egyj)tians.  What 
a  lustre  of  truth  and  life  was  that  which  God's  Spirit 
caused  to  radiate  over  half  Europe,  from  Wittenberg, 
Geneva,  and  and  a  few  like  centres !  What  an  en- 
couragement to  expect  unexampled  awakenings  and 
conversions,  when  a  later  glory  shall  answer  our  as 
yet  too  straitened  prayers,  and  shed  the  promised  day 
over  our  peaceful  warfare  against  idolatry,  superstition, 
and  universal  fraud  and  falsehood  !  These  encourage- 
ments Divine  Pro\ddence  utters  to  us,  in  the  history  of 
the  Church. 


90  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

VI.    Finally,  Cliurcli  History  is  valuable  to  the 
theologian,  because  it  aids  in  the  Study  of  the  Future. 

It  is  as  surely  our  duty  to  study  the  future  pro- 
gress of  the  Church  as  it  is  admitted  that  God  has  in 
a  certain  measure  revealed  it.  To  his  omniscience  the 
future  is  as  present  as  the  past ;  and  of  this  future  we 
dare  not  inquire  any  further  than  Scripture  teaches  ; 
but  those  things  which  are  revealed,  even  though  pro- 
phetic, belong  unto  us  and  to  our  children  for  ever. 
No  difficulty  of  exegesis  can  reduce  this  obligation  to 
a  nullity,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  God's  Book  is 
given  that  it  may  not  be  understood.  The  most  diffi- 
cult book  of  all,  and  that  which  closes  the  canon,  has 
on  its  seal  the  most  explicit  benediction  for  those  who 
read,  hear,  and  keep  it.  Great  errors  have  been 
made,  a  thousand  times,  in  the  interpretation  of  pro- 
phecy, but  greater,  more  fundamental,  and  more  fatal, 
in  the  interpretation  of  doctrine  ;  even  as  it  is  a  worse 
shij^wreck  to  fall  upon  the  head-stone  of  the  corner, 
by  making  the  Pope  Christ's  vicar,  than  to  miscalcu- 
late the  time  and  times  and  the  di\dding  of  time. 
The  evil  has  not  been  in  seeking  to  interpret  God's 
predictions,  but  in  interpreting  them  amiss.  Nor  is  it 
safe  or  scrij^tural  to  leave  all  prophecy  to  await  a 
determination  by  the  events  prophesied,  since  it  may 
be  the  purpose  of  God,  in  our  case,  as  we  know  it  was 
in  the  case  of  Daniel,  to  prepare  the  Church  for  events 
yet  to  come  ;  and  the  chart  of  their  course,  or  pros- 
pective history  of  these  events,  is  prophecy.     Diverse 


INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE.  91 

as  liave  been  tlie  schools  of  prophetic  interpretation, 
and  diametrically  opposed  as  their  conclusions  have 
been,  there  is  one  thing  in  which  they  have  all  agreed. 
With  one  consent  they  have  sought  the  meaning  of 
prophetic  indications,  by  comparing  the  letter  of  the 
text  with  the  events  of  actual  history,  which  is  partly  in 
the  Bible  and  partly  in  uninspired  annals.  Not  one 
step  can  be  taken  in  any  interpretation  without  re- 
course to  history,  so  that  all  great  works  on  prophecy 
are  to  a  large  extent  historical.  The  more  profound 
and  extensive  the  minister's  knowledge  of  what  is  past, 
the  more  his  ability  to  determine  whether  the  pro- 
phetic statement  is  past  or  future,  whether  the  word 
of  the  Lord  is  fulfilled  or  unfulfilled.  The  few  points 
which  are  fixed  in  the  belief  of  the  Church,  concerning 
prophetic  application,  some  of  them  being  included  in 
our  confessions,  have  been  fixed  by  applying  prophecy 
to  history.  It  would  be  futile  to  argue  that  the  Pope 
is  Antichrist  with  one  w^ho  knew  not  the  rise  and  pro- 
gress of  popedom ;  and  this  is  history.  And  it  would 
seem  superfluous  to  urge  a  maxim  so  elementary  and 
obvious,  were  it  not  practically  denied  every  day.  If, 
however,  it  is  conceded,  then  it  follows  that  for  a 
more  penetrative  insight  into  the  prophetic  Scriptures 
there  must  be  a  more  diligent  sounding  of  the  deep 
sea  of  history.  How  true  this  is  appears  from  the 
fact,  that  whenever  any  man  devotes  himself  to  pro- 
phetic interpretation,  in  whatever  age,  or  of  whatever 
school,  whether  Augustine,  Bossuet,  or  Newton,  that 


92  INAUGUEAL     DISCOUESE. 

moment  he  is  seen  to  unlock  the  treasure-house  of 
history.  If,  then,  the  history  of  the  past  is  auxiliary 
to  the  history  of  the  future,  it  becomes  a  question  of 
vast  moment  in  what  manner  to  read  Church  History. 
There  never  was  an  age  of  the  Church  in  which 
the  eyes  of  believers  were  more  turned  Tvdth  expecta- 
tion to  the  impending  period,  or  more  anxiously 
searching  for  guiding  lights  in  the  word  of  God.  Even 
those  who  are  the  most  resolute  in  closing  their  eyes 
against  every  claim  to  an  exposition  of  prophecy,  have 
yet  their  own  traditionary  expositions,  and  these  ex- 
positions involve  the  study  of  the  sublime  past,  in 
order  to  prepare  for  the  sublimer  future.  The  popular 
doctrine  of  a  thousand  years  of  spiritual  glory  before 
the  judgment,  and  the  revived  opinion  of  Christ's 
advent  before  the  thousand  years,  though  irreconci- 
lably opposed,  are  equally  claiming  support  from  that 
series  of  events  in  the  pro\ddence  of  the  Church  which 
terminates  in  our  unexampled  position  at  the  present 
hour,  when  dynasties  and  governments  are  dashing 
one  another  to  pieces,  and  science  and  art  are  working 
yet  more  rapid  revolution  in  society ;  on  either  pro- 
phetic hypothesis,  to  prej)are  the  way  of  the  Lord.  If 
in  any  sense,  even  the  most  moderate,  there  is  a  law 
of  divine  operation  in  the  sequence  of  events,  no  less 
than  in  the  changes  of  nature  ;  if  it  is  allowable  to 
investigate  this  law ;  and  if  the  investigation  is  best 
pursued  by  comparing  the  symbols  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
with  the  work  of  providence  and  grace,  as  already 


INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE.  93 

unfolded,  then  for  our  expectation  and  faith  and 
labour  towards  Christ's  coming  work,  there  is  no  pre- 
paratory discipline  more  indispensable  than  the  history 
of  the  Chmxh.  Even  if  without  it  we  could  en- 
com^age  our  friends,  we  cannot  meet  our  enemies.  In 
the  approaching  conflict,  we  cannot  prevent  their 
using  weapons  from  this  armoury ;  and  he  must  be  a 
dull  reader  of  signs  around  him  who  does  not  j)erceive 
that  in  an  age  of  unparalleled  projection,  adventm-e, 
change,  and  accomplishment,  there  is  not  a  scheme  for 
the  futm'e,  in  politics  or  religion,  w^hich  does  not  found 
itself  on  inductions  from  history. 

Looking  around  us,  we  see  abundant  reason  for 
arming  the  Christian  minister  with,  all  the  T\'isdom 
and  courage  which  can  be  derived  fr*om  the  past.  Tliis 
is  forced  upon  us  equally  by  a  sm^vey  of  the  Chm^ch 
and  of  the  world.  In  spite  of  the  lulling  strain 
which  well-meaning  friends  of  outward  amity  continue 
to  sing,  we  behold  tokens  of  peril,  if  not  of  judgment ; 
signs  that  Christian  graces  are  not  keejDing  pace  witli 
science,  civilization,  and  liberty,  at  least  in  the  old 
territory  of  Christendom.  For  be  it  remembered  to 
our  caution,  that  Shiloh  is  to  a  proverb  desolate ; 
that  the  lights  of  the  seven  churches  are  quenched ; 
that  Alexandria  is  Mohammedan  and  Geneva  heretical. 
The  questions  which  our  fathers  debated,  even  at  the 
risk  of  life,  and  the  rights  which  they  maintained, 
with  arms  in  their  hands,  are  no  whit  more  stirring 


94  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

tliaii  those  whicli  we  foresee  our  sons  must  del)ate. 
Not  petty  scliolastic  niceties  wliich  may  divide  good 
men,  but  stantis  aut  cadentis  ecclesiae,  Whetlier  the 
infinite  Jehovah  is  a  personal  God,  or  a  self-developing 
sum  of  all  things  ;  whether  we  rightly  hold  the  Atha- 
nasian  Trinity,  or  must  accept  a  Sabellian  Godhead  in 
triple  manifestation ;  whether  Holy  Scripture  is  in- 
spired, or  merely  half  inspired,  or  not  inspired  at  all ; 
whether  there  is  a  supernatural  revelation  of  positive 
truth,  or  only  a  theology  of  reason ;  whether  Atone- 
ment is  expiatory,  or  merely  dramatic ;  whether  the 
ground  of  our  accej^tance  with  God  is  a  forensic  justi- 
fication, or  an  infused  or  derived  life  of  holiness  ;  and 
whether  there  shall  he  eternal  punishment,  or  finite 
punishment,  or  no  punishment :  these  are  the  ques- 
tions now  rising  for  us,  and  rising  within  the  churches 
of  the  Reformation.  By  a  slow  but  ine^dtable  process 
the  distillations  of  the  German  alembic  are  coming  to 
tinctm-e  the  theology  of  Britain  and  America.  The 
most  alarming  latitude  widens  around  us ;  and  here- 
sies which  all  the  Confessions  of  all  the  Reformed 
Churches,  wdthout  a  single  excej)tion,  agree  in  de- 
nouncing, and  at  which  even  Rome  revolts,  are  de- 
clared by  ministers  of  religion  not  to  touch  the  foun- 
dation. In  such  warfare  it  is  w^ell  to  have  daylight, 
and  to  know  the  dogmas  which  are  our  enemies ;  for 
which  purpose  we  cannot  too  sedulously  study  their 
portraits  in  the  great  gallery  of  ages.  So  much  for 
caution,  but  we  have  much  also  for  encouragement. 


INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE.  95 

All  history  is  filled  with  tlie  trophies  of  faith  over 
error.  A  vast  and  oj)en  field  lies  before  Christ^s  peo- 
ple. The  instrumentalities  of  science,  art,  and  com- 
merce, of  international  exchange,  peaceful  dij^lomacy, 
unexampled  emigration,  and  unimagined  rapidity  of 
transit  and  intelligence,  may  be  regarded  as  so  many 
channels  023ened  for  the  flow  of  truth  and  grace. 
Even  were  the  old  world  submerged,  we  have  a 
world  at  home.  Om'  continent  is  the  highway  be- 
tween the  two  great  oceans  ;  our  language  is  sj^oken, 
and  our  Government  is  planted,  on  both  shores.  If 
Christianity  were  amljitious,  it  could  crave  no  loftier 
enterprise ;  being  humbly  intent  on  setting  up  Christ's 
kingdom,  it  cannot  but  look  abroad  earnestly  wakeful 
on  such  a  domain.  For  such  labours  she  demands 
soldiers,  men  of  training,  me^  of  fire.  Let  us  not 
shiver  with  pitiful  dread  of  a  too  learned  ministry,  or 
betray  our  own  cause  by  arraying  learning  and  piety 
against  each  other.  Let  us  not  ^dolate  that  union  of 
the  two  which  existed  in  the  Reformers,  and  which 
the  testamentary  voices  of  Luther,  Calvin,  and  Knox 
combine  to  enjoin.  Let  us  install  neither  godless 
learning  nor  ignorant  piety  into  the  most  solemn  of  all 
places,  the  chair  of  the  teacher.  Let  us  not  divide 
those  joint  influences  which,  as  we  may  see  in  the  sta- 
tistics of  our  own  body,  have  been  OT\Tied  of  God  to 
spread  our  church-courts  over  all  the  republic,  and 
into  Asia  and  Africa.  Among  our  Presbyterian 
fathers,  ^ve  own  the  grace  bestowed  on  learned  Mel- 


96  INAUGURAL     DISCOURSE. 

vill,  and  tlie  impulse  given  to  education  by  linking  it 
witli  tlie  preaching  of  the  Word.  In  this  great  man 
his  late  eminent  biographer  found  that  "  union  of 
literature  and  religion,  the  importance  of  which  to 
render  one  safe  and  the  other  successful  was  a  favour- 
ite topic  with  him ;  and  the  dissolution  of  which,  or 
what  he  called  'the  secularization  of  literature,'  he 
always  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  ominous  symp- 
toms of  our  times."  In  this  single  point  the  teaching 
of  Church  History,  above  all  of  Eeformation  history, 
awakens  the  American  ministry  as  with  the  sound  of 
a  trumpet. 

Yet  equally  loud  is  the  warning  from  every  period 
of  declining  Protestantism,  in  "Wittenberg  or  in  Cam- 
bridge, against  the  substitution  of  learning  for  grace. 
If  our  students,  if  our  ministers,  above  all,  if  our 
theological  instructers  ever  cease  to  regard  the  hold- 
ing forth  of  Jesus  Christ  out  of  a  believing  heart,  with 
holy  life  and  self-sacrificing  zeal,  as  the  paramount 
duty,  that  day  will  mark  our  catastrophe  as  a  Church. 
Let  us  pray  together,  that  God,  of  his  infinite  mercy, 
would  avert  from  us  so  great  an  evil,  and  bless  us  with 
his  perpetual  grace. 


END  . 


k 


9  ^ 


